LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




ClassXaiS. 
Iliiok __L-i3_ 



i>Kr:.sKXTP;i) ijy 



SELF-GOVERNMENT IN LOUISIANA. 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. JOHN A. LOGAN, 



OF ILLINOIS, 



Senate of the United States, 



JANUARY 13 AND 14, 1875. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1875. 






Johns Hoplib's 0niT. Lib- 



SPEECH 

OF 

HO^. JOHN A. LOGAlsr. 



TheSenate having unclerconsitleration the resohition submitted by Mr. Schurz 
on the 8th of January, directing the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire what 
legislation is necessary to secure to tlie people of the State of Louisiana their rights 
of Self-government under the Constitution — 

Mr. LOGAN said : 

Mr. President : I believe it is considered the duty of a good sailor 
to stand by Ms ship in the midst of a great storm. We have been 
told in this Chamber that a great storm of indignation is sAveeping 
over this land, which will rend asunder and sink the old republican 
craft. We have listened to denunciations of the President, of the repub- 
licans in this Chamber, of the republican party as an organization, 
their acts heretofore and their purposes in reference to acts hereafter, 
of such a character as has seldom been listened to in this or any other 
legislative hall. Every fact on the side of the republican party has 
been perverted, every falsehood on the part of the opposition has been 
exaggerated, arguments have been made here calculated to inflame 
and aroiise a certain class of the people of this country against the 
authorities of the Government, based not upon truth but upon manu- 
factured statements which Avere utterly false. The republican party 
has been characterized as despotic, as tyrannical, as oppressive. The 
course of the Administration and the party toward the southern 
people has been denounced as of the most tyrannical character by men 
who have received clemency ^at the hands of this same jiarty. 

Now, sir, what is the cause of all this vain declamation ? Wliat is 
the cause of all this studied denunciation ? What is the reason for 
all these accusations made against a party or an administration ? I 
may be mistaken, but, if I am not, this is the commencement of the 
campaign of 1876. It has been thought necessary on the part of the 
opposition Senators here to conuu(3nce, if I may use a homely phrase, 
a raid upon the republican party and upon this Administration, and 
to base that upon false statements in reference to the conduct of 
affairs in the State of Louisiana. 

I propose in this debate, and I hope I shall not be too tedious, thotigh 
I may be somewluit so, to discuss the question that should be pre- 
sented to the American people. I propose to discuss that question 
fairly, candidly, and truthfully. I propose to discuss it from a. just, 
honest, ami legal stand-point. Sir, what is that question? Thcrewas 
a resolution offered in this Chaiulter calling on the President to fur- 
nish certain information. Asecoudrcsolution wasintroduced, ( whether 
for the purpose of hanging on it an elaborate speech or not I am not 
aware,) asking the Committee on the Judiciary to report at once some 
legislation in reference to Louisiana. Without any facts presented 
olhcially arguments have been made, the country lias been aroused, 



ami some people have aimouuced themselves in a manner calcu- 
lated to in-oduce a very sore feeling aj^ainst the course and condnct 
of the ]iarty in power. I say this is (lone without tlie facts; without 
any luisis wliatcver; witlioiit any knowledge ofhciallyconmumicated 
to them in reference fo the conduct of any of the parties in the (State 
of Louisiana. In discussing this question we ought to have a stand- 
jioint ; we ought to have a beginning ; some point from wliich we may 
all reason and see whether or not any great outrage has been perpe- 
trated against the rights of the American people or any portion of 
them. 

I then propose to start at this point, that there is a government in 
the State of Louisiana. Wlietlier tluvt government is a government of 
right or not is not the question. Is there a government in that State 
against which treason, insurrection, or rebellion may be committed? 
Is there sucli a government in tlie State of Louisiana as shoidd require 
the maintenance of peace and iu-der among the citizens of that State 'I 
Is tliere sncii a governnuMit in tlie State of Louisiana as retiuires the 
exercise of Executive authority for the purpose of preserving peace 
and order wiihiu its borders? I ask any Senator on this lloor 
to-day if he- can stand up here as a lawyer, as a Senator, as an honest 
man, and deny the fact that a government does exist? Wliether he 
calls it a government do Jure or a government de facto, it is immate- 
rial. It is such an organization as involvi'S the liberlies aud tlie pro- 
tection of the rights of the people of that State. It will not do for 
Senators to talk about the election of 1872. The election of 1872 has 
no more to do with this "military usurpation" that you speak of 
to-day than an election of a hundred years ago. It is not a question as 
to whether this man or that was elected. The question is, is there such 
a government there as can be overtiu-ned, and has there been an 
attempt to overttirn it i If so, then what is re(iuired to preserve its 
status or preserve the peace and order of the people f 

But the other day when I asked the question of a Senator on the 
other side, who was discussing this question, whether or not he in- 
dorsed the Penn rebellion, he answered me in a playful manner that 
excited the mirth of people who did not understand the question, by 
saying that I had decided that there was no election, and that tluu-e- 
fore there was no government to overturn. Now I ask Senators, I 
ask men of common luiderstaiuling if that is the way to treat a tjues- 
tion of this kind; when asked whether insurrection against a govern- 
ment recognized is not an insurrection and whether he indt)rses it, 
he says there is no government to" overturn. If there is no goveru- 
ment'to overtui-n, why do you make this noise and confusion about a 
LfgisLiture there i If there is no State government, there is no State 
L<'gisl.ituie. ihit I will not answer in thai nniinier. I will not avoid 
the issue ; I will not evade the question. I answer there is a Legis- 
lature, as there is a State government, recognized by the President, 
recognized by the Legislature, recognized by the courts, recognized 
by one branch of Congress, and recogniztnl l)y the majority of the 
citizens by their recognition of the laws of the State; and it will not 
do to undertake to avoid (luestions in this manner. 

Let us see, then, start ing from t hat stand-]t()int, what the position of 
Louisiii'uii is now, and what it has been. On the 14th day of Sep- 
teml)er last a man by the name of Penn, as to whom we have official 
information this morning, with some seven or ten thousand white- 
leaguers ma(h' war against that government, overtnrni'd it, disiierscd 
it, drove the governor from the executive chamber, and he had to 
take refuge under the jurisdiction of the Government of the United 



states, on the soil occuY)ie(l by the United States custom-honse, whei-e 
the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Government extends, 
for the purpose of protecting his own life. 

This then was a revolution; this then was a rebellion; this then 
was ti'eason against the State, for which these men should have been 
arrested, tried, and punished. Let gentlemen dodge the question as 
they may; it may be well for some men there who engaged in this 
treasonable act agaiust the Government that they had Mr. Kellogg 
for governor. It might not have been so well for them, perhaps, had 
there been some otlier man in his place. I tell the Senator from 
Maryland if any crowd of armed men should undertake to disperse 
the government of the State of Illinois, drive its governor from the 
executive chamber, enter into his private drawers, take his private 
letters, and publish them, and act as those men did, some of them 
would xiay the penalty either in the penitentiary or by dancing at 
the end of a rope. 

But when this rebellion was going on against that State, these 
gentlemen say it w^as a State alfair ; the Government of the United 
States has nothing to do with it! That is the old-fashioned seces- 
sion doctrine again. The Government of the United States has noth- 
ing to do with it! This National Government is made up of States, 
and each. State is a part of the Government, each is a part of its 
life, of its body. It takes them all to make up the whole; and 
treason against any part of it is treason against the whole of it, 
and it became the duty of the President to put it down, as he did do; 
and, in putting down that treason against the Kellogg government, 
the whole country almost responded favorably to his action. 

But our friend from Maryland, not in his seat noAv, [Mr. Hamiltox] 
said that that was part of the cause of the elections going as they 
did. In other words, my friend from Maryland undertook in a round- 
about w^ay to endorse the Penu rebellion, and claim that people of the 
country did tlie same thing against the g&vernment of the State of 
Louisiana, and on this iioor since this discussion has been going on, 
net o i.e Senator on that side of the chamber has lisped one word 
against the reliellion against tlie government of the State of Louisiana, 
and all who have spoken of it Ikia e passed it by in silence so as to 
indicate clearly that they endorse it, and I believe they do. 

Then, going further, the President issued his iiroclamation requiring 
those insurgents to lay down their arms and to resume their ]teaceful 
pursuits. Tills morning we have heard read at the clerk's desk 
that these men have not yet complied fully with that proclama- 
tion. Their rebellious organization continued up to the time of the 
election and at the election. When the election toidc ])lace, we 
are told by some of these Senators that the election was a peace- 
able, and a fair election, that a majority of democrats were 
elected. That is the question we]uopose to discuss as well as we are 
able to do it. They tell us that there was no intimidation resorted 
to by any one in the State of Louisiana. I dislike very much to fol- 
low out these statements that are not true and af tempt to controvert 
them because it does seem to me that we ought to act fairly and can- 
didly in this Chamber and discuss (piestions without trying to i)er- 
vert the issue or the facts in connection with it. 

Now% 1 state it as a fact, and I appeal to the Senator from Lou- 
isiana to say wh(^ther or not I state truly, that on the night before 
the election in Louisiana notices were jiosted all over that country 
on the doors of the colored republicans and tlie white republicans, 
too, of a character giving them to understand that if they Toted 



their lives would be in danger; and here is one of tlic notices posted 
all over that country : 



JF^ 




2x6 



This "2x6" was to show the length and width of the grave they 
would have. Not only that, but the negroes that they could impose 
upon and get to vote the democratic ticket received, after they had 
voted, a card of safety ; and here is that card issued to the colored 
people whom they had induced to vote the democratic ticket, so that 
they might present it if any white-leaguers should luidertako to 
plunder or murder them : 



New Okleaas, Xov. 28, 1874. 
This is to certify that Charles Dtirassa, a barber by occupa- 
tion, is a Member of the \st Ward Colored Democratic Club, 
5^^^.^ o-nd that at the late election he voted for and worked in the inter- 
"^^ ests of the Democratic Candidates. 

WILLIAM ALI^XA^DER, 
President 1st Ward CoVd Democratic Club. 
KICK Horn, Secretary. 




EooMrt Demociiatic P-vkism Committee, 

New Orleans. Xov. 28, 1874. 
The undersigned, Special Committee, appointed on behalf of the Parish Com- 
mittee, approve of the above Certificate. 

^ ED. FLOOD, Chairman. 

PAUL WATEItMAX^. 
Attest: H. J. RIVET. 

J. H. HARDY, Ass't Secretary Parish Committee. 



These Avere the certificates given to negroes who voted the demo- 
cratic ticket, that they might present them to save their lives when 
attacked by the men commonly known as Ku-Kluxor Avliite-leaguers 
in that country ; and we are told that there is no intimidation in the 
State of Louisiana ! 

Our friend from Georgia [Mr. Gordon] has been very profuse in 
his declamation as to the civility and good order ami good bearing of 
the ])eople of Louisiana^ and the otiier Southern States. ]5ut, sir, this 
intimidation continued up to the election. After the election, it was 
necessary for the governor of that State to proceed in some manner 
best calculated to preserve the peace and order of the country. Cer- 
tain men were known to be elected to the Legislatiue, and one person 
elected to a State olficc. I ask now, in furtherance of what I am Kay- 



7 

ing in reference to intimidation, tliat the Secretary read from one of 
tne journals of Louisiana'a statement, made after the election, to show 
that the intimidation still continued. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

SiinEVErouT, November 16, 1874. 

The following extracts from an editorial in the Times yesterday but faintly 
reflect sentiments expressed in a hundred speeches made in Northern Louisiana by 
prominent "White League leaders before and since the election : 

"We want no representative on the returning board, no favors or concessions 
from Kellogg and Packard. * * * s^^ know the results of the election 
in every pai isb. * * * Therefore we should simply give the members 
of that I>oard to distinctly understand that unless they return tne elections as they 
•were returned at the polls, they and those they seek to count in will pay the for- 
feit with their lives. "We have no appeals to niake to our fellow-citizens of New 
Orleans. We know that the men of the 1 Itli of September will do their whole duty 
as freemen and Louisianians jealous of their liberties; but throughout the country 
parishes there should be concert of action, and that action should be prompt and 
emphatic. In every parish where the otHcers elected by the people may be counted 
out by the returning board, the people should use hemp or ball on the defeated 
candidates counted in. 

" To liicalizi' the proposition : If George L. Smith is countedin over "W. M. Levy, 
or if Twitchell is counted in over Elam, let Smith and Twitchell be killed. If 
Johnson and Tyler, in De Soto, are counted in over Scales and Schuler, as the 
New Oileans Republican thinks ; or if Keating, Levisee, and Johnson, in Caddo, 
are counted in over Vaughn, Horan, and Land, then let Johnson, Tyler, Keating, 
Le^-isee, and Johnson be killed. And so let every officer, from Congressman down 
to constable, in every district and parish of the State, be served, whom the people 
have defeated and whom the returning hoard may count in. "We cannot aflbrd to 
be defeated by a ring of political scoundrels after we have triumi)hed. * * * 
Human life may be precious : but the lives of all these carpet-baggers and radical 
politicians in Louisiana are valueless, compared with the worth of a smglc jirinci- 
l)le of justice and liberty." 

Mr. LOGAN. Now, Mr. President, in the face of what has been 
said on this lloor, a kind of sport-making of the statements of intimi- 
dation of the voters of the South, am I not justified in bringing for- 
ward this statement f What is it ? That if certain men, republi- 
cans, are announced as elected to the Legislature of the State of 
Louisiana, they shall be murdered. Murdered ; why ? Murdered be- 
cause they are republicans, elected to the legislature of a sovereign 
State, naming the men ; that, if the returning board announce their 
election, they shall be murdered! Yet our democratic friends on the 
other side sneer at the idea of republicans being intimidtitcd or mivr- 
dered on account of their peculiar notions in the Southern States. 
This was in the State of Louisiana, and Louisiana is the State with 
which we are dealing now, and not the State of Georgia. I here will 
say for the benefit of my friend from Georgia — for I am his friend 
personally — that he is in the habit of bringing Georgia in all the time 
when we talk about intimidation, alleging that Georgia is peaceful. 
I will speak. to that before I am through ; I am now confining my 
attention to Louisiana. 

If we take into consideration this declaration in one of the leading 
newspapers; if we take into consideration the notices given to the 
people all over the country on tlie day before tlic election ; if we take 
into consideration the Penu rebellion of tlie 14th of September; and 
if we then go back for a period and take into view the bloody riot in 
New Orleans in lrt()(), when a convention was Ix'ing assembled in that 
State, what are wo to conclude? In 186(J these same men went into 
that convention and killed and wounded over two hundred, as I have 
the autlientic rc])ort, made by the medical oCticers who examined the 
killed and wounded on that occasion, to show. Some thirty-odd were 
killed, and the rest, amounting to over two hundred, were wf)Tnided 
on that occasion. Why? Because thev went in convention to de- 



clare their views in I'efereiice to certain propositions. If we take all 
this into consideration and then follow it down until wc come to tlio 
massacre at Colfax, what was that ? I have here a pamphlet pub- 
lished, contaiuinfT extracts from one of the papers in the State of 
Lonisiana, the New Orleans Times, and I will read from it in regard 
to that transaction : 

Sunday night, shortly after dark, the boat landed at a wood-pile ahont a mile 
ahove Colfax, Grant Parish, and a young fellow, armed to the teeth and very much 
excited, came aboard and riMiue-ited the captain to land at Colfax and take some 
wounded white men to Alexaiulria, about twenty-five miles fartherdown the rivei-. 

On airiving at Colfax we Idiiml about a Iniiidnd armed men on the bank, an J 
most of the passengers, niysclt among the number, went ashore to view the "battle- 
o;i'ouud,"f()r our young tiicuil who came aboard at the wood-pile informed us "that 
if we wanted to sec diiid niggers, here was a chance, for there were a hundred or 
so scattered over tlunillage and the adjacent fields," and he kindly otiered to guide 
us to the scene of action. 

Almost as soon as we got to the top of the landing, sure enough we began to 
stumble on them, most of them lying on their faces, and, as I could see by the dim 
light of the lanterns, riddhMl witb bullets. 

One poor wretch, a stalwart-looking fellow, had been in the burning court- 
house, and as he ran out with his clothes on tire had been shot. His clofties to 
his waist were all burned ofl" and he was literally broiled. 

We came upon bodies every few steps, but the sight of this fellow who was 
burned, added to the hoiTible smell of burning human flesh — the remains of those 
who were shot in the court-house, wiiich was still on lire — sickened most of us and 
caused a general cry of "Lets no back.'' 

I counted eighteen of the misguided darkies, and was informed that they were 
not oni'-fonith of the number killed ; that they were scattered here and there in 
the fii'kls around the town, besides several in and arouiul the burning court-house. 
This, however, was probably an exaggeration. 

To show how terribly incensed the people were against the negroes, I relate the 
following incidents : 

"We came across one negrowho.se clothes were smoking, and who had probably 
been in the lire. Some of our p;irty remarked that he was alive. Instantly one of 
our guides wliijiped out a six-shooter, saying " I'll finish the black dog." Of course 
we remoustri'.ted and he pxit away his weapon. Some one stooped down and tiu-ned 
the jugro (}ver. Ho was stifl" anil cold. 

_A iVw miuuti's afterward we came on a big black fellow who was reclining on 
his elbow, and t^) all appearances alive. The man with the six-shootrr hit him a 
fierce kick with his boot, and then stooped down and examined hiui, saying: "O, 
he's dead as hell." It was so; the darky died that way — in a reiliuing (losition. 

When we came back near t\w landing the boat's crew weie carrying aboard the 
two wounded white men, a Mr. Hadnot and another whose name I did not learn. 

Sir, I ask yon what Governor Kellogg was to do after the scene of 
1866, after that liorriltle scene at Colfax; after the taking ]iossession 
of five persi^'is at Coushatta, northern men who had gone there Avith 
their capital and invested it and Iniilt up a thriving little village, 
hut who were taken out and nnii'dered in cold blood ; and not only 
that, but they had murdered one of the judges and the district-at- 
torney, and compelled tlie .judge and district attorney of that juris- 
diction to resign, and then murchn-ed the acting district attorney. 
M.v friend from (Jeorgia said in his way and manner of saying things, 
" Why do you not try these people for nuirderiug those men at Cou- 
shatta?" You have the judge and you have the district attorney? 
Unfortunately for my friend's statement, we have neither. Your 
friends had murdered the attorney, and had murdered a judge before 
the new judge had been appointed, who had to resign to save his 
life. The acting distiict attorney was murdered by the same " ban- 
ditti" that murder(>d the live northern men at Coushatta. 

Mr. GOKDON. Will the Senator allow me to ask him a question ? 

Mr. LOGAN. Certainly. 

Mr. GORDON. Where was the United States court at that time ? 
Wliere Avas tiie enforcement act? Where Avas the Army of the 
United States ? Could not the United States court under the enforce- 



9 

ment act take cognizance of these facts ? Was the district attorney 
of the United States court not present? 

Mr. LOGAN. I will inform the Senator where they were. The 
district attorney was in his grave, put there by your political 
friends. The judge had been nuirdered a year before. The one ap- 
pointed in his place had to resign to save his life. The United 
States court was in New Orleans. And he asks where was the United 
States Army ? Great God ! do you want the Army ? I thought you 
had been railing against its use. [Laughter.] 

Mr. GORDON. 'Will the Senator allow me to interrupt him just 
one moment f 

Mr. LOGAN. Certainly. 

Mr. GOKDON. I confess to the Senator now that I am over- 
whelmed. When he comes at me with that argument I am utterly 
undone. It is always easier to attack the defeated ; it is always easier 
for power to triumph than f(u- truth ; but truth will prevail in the 
end. If the Senator thinks l)y a thrust such as ho has given that he 
makes any capital for himself or his party, he is altogether welcome 
to it. 

Mr. LOGAN. I am not trying to make capital for myself nor for 
my i)arty. I am trying to develope the facts and let them make cap- 
ital for whoever they may. But when the Senator talks about thrusts, 
let him remember that he has stood upon this floor himself every day 
littering denunciatory sentences against the rexiublicans and against 
the Government of the United States. 

Mr. GORDON. I defy the Senator to find one solitary word in any 
utterance of mine against the Government of the United States or 
against any man in authority except the miserable people who are 
plundering mine. He has made the charge ; I ask him now to make 
it good or to withdraw it — one of the two. 

Mr. LOGAN. Ah well, the Senator need not commence talking to 
me about withdrawing. 

Mr. GORDON. Verv well. 

Mr. LOGAN. I am not of that kind. 

Mr. GORDON. I want to ask the Senator 

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. Ingalls in the chair.) The 
Senator from Georgia will suspend. Does the Senator from Illinois 
consent to be interrupted ? 

Mr. GORDON. If the Senator will allow me to explain, I only 
want to say to the Senator that I think, as he has made a very grave 
charge agaijist mysislf, it is due to him and due to a brother Senator 
that he make that charge specihc, so that I may have the opportunity 
of answering it. 

Mr. LOGAN. Certainly. 

Mr. (jORDON. If he has done me the injustice, I say I think it is 
due to his character that, when he finds out he has done so, he witli- 
draw the charge. 

Mr. LO(JAN. I always do that when I find out that I haA'e done 
any one injustice. I said that the Senator had stood upon this door 
time and again in deiumciation of republicans and the rei)ublicau 
partv, and 1 repeat it. 

Mr. (xOliDON. The Senator said " the Goverunuuit," also. 

Mr. LOGAN. When I said " the Government " I meaut the Admin- 
istration — those who administer the (iovernment or its afi'airs. I do 
not mean the (ioNcrniMeiit, l)ut I mean the Aduiinis(ratioii, wlii<'h 
o tilers iiere have (li'iiomiua ted thctJovernment. That is wluit I mean. 

Mr. GORDON. Will tlie Senator just be kind enough to show 
that? 



10 

Mr. LOGAX. Now the Soiiator will just be kind ononjrli to say 
this : ir luj desires to answer anytliin'^- I bavo said, he ■will have 
ample opjxirtimity to do it, and I Avill treat him in the same spirit 
iu whieh he treats other men. If he tieats other men kindly, iu a 
kindly spirit "vvill I respond to him. If he treats other men iu a de- 
nnnciatory tone, I tell him that is a game two can play at. 

I was s]>eaking in reference to those things that have occnn-ed in 
Lonisianji, and now I desire to come to the point that I intended to 
reach by these pro]i(isitions. It is this: Taking all these statements 
in reference to these, riots, in refcicnee to tlie bloodshed, in iclVrence 
to the murders at these ditiereut ])oints, aud the rebellioji of the 14th 
Ssptember, 1874, with arms in their hands, and considering the condi- 
tion of the Legislature at the time it assemlded, I ask you if all these 
circnmstanees surrounding the governor of that State were not suffi- 
cient to put him on his guard aud notify him that force might be used 
to overturn that government, and that for the purpose of repelling 
that force he might be necessitated to exercise and use force ? 

What are the tacts, then ? Did the governor of Louisiana use force ? 
From what has been said in this Chamber and has rung through the 
^oiuitry like the peals from the distant bell, you would think that 
this Senate, the President, and the republican party had murdered a 
State and were murdering the liberties of the American ])eople. What 
are the facts? I assert that Kellogg was justified iu believing that 
force was going to be use to overturn the State governnu'ut of Louisi- 
ana, and 1 go further. I state it to be a fact that that Legislature 
when it met and organized under Wiltz was a revolutionary body in 
revolution against the laws of the State of Louisiana. 

Not one of the Senators here who have been talking about Louisi- 
ana and the outrages x^erpetrated there has referred to tlie law of 
the State in reference to the organization of the State Legislature. 
In order that we may understand ourselves as we .go along — it is well 
enough for us to keep track of things and see whether we are getting 
off the line or whether we are remaining on the line — I will now call 
the attention of the Senate of the United States to the law of the 
State of Louisiana in relation to the organization of the State Legis- 
lature, and then after that I will take up the facts of the organization 
of this Legislature and see whether they comport with the law on 
that subject. The law of that State, after providing for a returning 
board of so many officers who are to receive the polls, count the votes, 
and declare who are elected by the voters of the State or of the dis- 
trict, declares that tliej^ shall then certify to the facts to the secre- 
tary of stat^^. On that certilicate to the secretary of state, ho is to 
take such action in regard to the Legislature as I will read. Sec- 
tion 56 of the act in reference to regulating the conduct and free- 
dom aud piuity of elections is as follows : 

Be it fvrfhn- cnnrfrd. <f-c., Tlint it shall bo tlio dntv of tlip spcrptarv of state to 
transiui't lot lie clerk III' the house (if ivjiiTscutativcs and (lie secreta7-y of the senate of 
the last (Jeiieral Assembly a list of tlie names of siieh jiersoiis as, aeeoiilinu; to tho 
returns, shall have beeu eleiteil to either branch of tho General Assembly, anil it 
shall be the duty of said cleik and seeri^tary to place the names of the representa- 
tives and senators-elect, so furnished, upon the roll of the house and of the senate, 
respectively, and those representatives and senators whose names are so placod 
bv the clerk and secretary respectively, in accordance with tho foi-oijoing pre- 
visions, and none other, shaU bo competent to organize the house of representatives 
or senate. 

Those who hold tlie cer1?ificato of the secretary of state trans- 
mitted to the clerk of the old bouse aud none other shiill be compe- 
tent to organize the State Legislature of the State of Louisiana. Now 



11 

I appeal to tlie learned Senator from Delaware [Mr. Bayakd] wlio 
made a speech the other day, strong in its character anddennnciatory 
in its tone of General Sheridan and other men, and I ask him what 
tliis law means when it says tliat the persons holding tlie certificate 
of tlie secretary of state aiul none other shall organize the Legislatnre 
of the State of Lonisiana? I wonkl like to know does that mean that 
other persons not holding the certificate shonhl do it ? Certainly not. 
It excludes all men except those holding the certificate of the secretary 
of state. 

Well, sir, wliat are the facts? Let ns now have the facts. I 
have the report of General Slieridan giving the facts of the organi- 
zation of that Legislature and I will ask that it be read. I also have 
the report of a committee of live of that Legislature, organized for 
the purpose of making an official report to the Congress of the United 
States. I hold that in my hand but I will not take time to read it. 
It corroborates in every word the statement of General Sheridan's 
report. I ask now for the reading of that report by the Clerk. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

Headquarters MnjTAUY Division' of Missouiii, 

New Orleans, JaiiiMry 8. (Received three a. iii.) 
Hon. W. W. Belknap, 

Secretary of War, Washington D. C. : 

I have the honor to submit thr foUowiua: brief report of affairs as they occuri'ed 
here iu the organizatiou of the State Leiii'slature ou Jamiary 4, 1875. I was not in 
command of this military department until nine o'clock at night on the 4th instant, 
but I fully indorse and am wilUus to be luld responsible for the acts of the military 
as conservators of the public peace ujion that day. 

During the few days I was in the city piior to the 4th of January the general topic 
of conversation wastlie scenes of blolidshed tliat wi>re liable to occur on that day, 
and I repeatedly Iieard threats of assassinatin;j, the governor and regrets expressed 
that he was not killed on the 14th of S( ptembcr last ; also threats of the assassina- 
tion of republican members of the hoi.sf, in order to secure the election of a demo- 
cratic speaker. I also knew of the kidnaping by the banditti of Mi. Cousinier, one 
of the members-elect of the Legislature^ 

In order to preserve the peace and to make the State-house safe for tlie peaceable 
assembling of the Legislature, Gt'iieral Emory, upon the requisition of the gov- 
ernor, stationed troojis in the vicinity of the building. Owing to these jirecautions 
the Legislature assembled in the Slate-house without any disturbance ot the jiublic 
peace. At twelve o'clock William Vigers, the clerk of the last house of represent- 
atives, proceeded to call the roll, as according to law he was empowered to do. 
One hundred and two legally-returned members answered to their names ; of this 
number fiftv-two were i-epublicaus, and titty were democrats. 

Before entering the house Mr. L. A. Wil'tz had been selected in caucus as the 
democratic nominee for speaker and Mr. Micluul llahn as the republican nominee. 
Vigers had not yet finished announcing the result, when one of the members, Mr. 
BUlican, of Lafourche, nominated Mr. L. Wiltz as temporary speaker. Vigors 
promptly declaied the motion out of order at that time, when some one put the 
questi(m', and, ami'l the cheers of the democratic side of the house, Mr. WiltK 
dashed ou to tlie platforMi, ]mshed aside Mr. Vigors, seized the speaker's chau-and 
gavel, and declan^d liimsell: spt^aker. 

A protest against tins arbitrary and unlawful proceeding was promptly made by 
the memb<n-s of the majority, biit Wiltz paid no attention to those protests, and, 
upon a motion from some oiio on the democratic side of the house, declared one 
Trezevant nominated and elected clerk of the house. Mr. Trezevant at oncesprang 
fin-ward and ociniiiml the clerk's chair, amid the wildest confusion over the whole 
house. "Wiltz then again, on another nomination from the democratic .side of the 
house, declared one l'"loord electi^d siigcant-at-arms, and ordered that a certain 
number of assistants be appointed. Instantly a large number of men throughout 
the hall, who had been admitted on various pretexts, such as reporters and mem- 
bers' friends and siiectators, tnined down the lapels of their coats, upon which 
were pinned blue-ribbon badges, on which were printed in gidd htteis the word.s, 
"assistant sergeaiit-at-arms," and the .assembly was in tln^ ixissession of tho 
minority, and the White League of Louisiana had made good its threats of seizing 
the house, many of the assisiaiit sergeant-at-arma being well kmiwu as cai)taui3 of 
White League companies in this city. 

Kotvvithstamluig the suddenness'of this movement, the leading republican mem- 



12 

licrs had not faiud to jnotcst a.^ain and ajjaiu against this revolutionary action of 
tlie minoiity, but all to no iiiii-post; ; and many of the reimhlicann rose, and left the 
bouse in a body, together with the cleik, Mr. Vigers, who caiiied with him the 
oiisrinal roll of the house as retiu-ned by tlie soci-etaTv of state. 

The excitement was now very livat.' The acting- sjieaker directed the aergeant- 
at-arras to prevent the egress or ingress of members or oihers, andsoveral exciting 
scuffles, in which knives and jjistols were drawn, took place, and for a few moments 
it seemed that bloodshed would ensue. At this juncture Mr. Dupre, a ilcmncratic 
memlx r from the i)arisli of Orleans, moved that the military power of the Ceneral 
Governmi nt be inv<died to preseive tiie peace, and that a committee be apiioiiited 
to wail Hi>on (leiieial De Trobriaud, the commanding oilicer of the I'liiteil Stales 
troops staiioned at the State-house, and I'djuest his assistaiu-e in <'learing the lobby. 
The million was adopted. A committee of live, of wiilch Mr. Duj)re was made 
chairman, was sent to wait upon (biieral l)i\ Ti-obriaml and soon returned with 
that oltieer, who was aceoniiianied by two of liis stall'otKcers. 

As General L»e Trobriaud walkcil down to the speaker's de.sk loud applause bur.st 
from the democratic side of the house. General De Trobiiand asked the acting 
speaker if it was not possible for him to preserve order without appealing to him 
as a United States iVrmy officer. Mr. Wiltz said it was not, whereu])on the general 
proceeded to the lobl)y, and addressing a few words to the crowd, jnaee w as at once 
restored. On motion of Mr. Dupre, Mr. Wiltz then, in the nanu- of the (Kneral 
Assembly of the State of Louisiana, thanked General De Trobriand f or his inter- 
ferenee in behalf of law and order, and the general withdrew. 

The republicans had now generally withdrawn from the hall, and united in sign- 
ing a petition to the governor stating their grievances and asking his aid, which 
petition, signed by liflytwo legally-returned members of tlie house, is in my pos- 
session. Innuediately. subseciueut to tiie action of ilr. Wiltz in ejecting the clerk 
of the old house, Mr. Billien moved that two gentlemen from the parish of De Soto, 
one from Winn, one from Bienville, and one from Iberia, who had not been returned 
by the r(>turning boaid, be sworn in as members; and they were accordingly sworn 
ill by Mr. Wiltz. and took seats upon the floor as members of the lumse. A 
motion was now made that (he house proceed with its permanent organization; and 
accordingly the roll was (tailed by Mr. Tr(^zevant, tlie acting clerk, and Wiltz was 
declared ebcted speaker and Trezevant clerk of the house. 

A('ting ontlie protest made by the majority, the governor nowreqnested thecom- 
manding general of the department to aid him in restoring order and enable the 
legally-reluiued members of the bouse to jiroceed with its organization according 
to Jaw. This request was reasonalde and in accordance with law. lieuu'Uiberiug 
vividly the tei'iilde mass:uTe that took place in this city o)i the assi'UiVding of the 
con.stitutional convention in lH(j(i ;it the Meclianics' Institute, and believing that 
the lives of the members of the Legislature weix- lu- would be end;uigei-ed in case 
an organization uucU'i' the law was attempted, the jiosse was furnished, with the re- 
quest that care should be taken that no nu'mber of the Legislature returned by 
the returning board should lie I'jeeted fiom the floor. 

This militaiy jiosse ])erfornu'd its duly under directions from the governor of the 
State, and remove<l from the fiooi- of the house those persons who h.ad been ille- 
gally seated and who bad no legal rights to be there, whereupon the democrats 
aro.se and left the house, ami the remaining mcnnbers jtroceeded to effect an organ- 
ization under inu State laws. In all this turmoil, in which bl ished was immi- 
nent, the ndlitary posse behaved with great dkscretion. When Mr. \Viltz. the 
usurping speaker of the house, called for troops to ])revent bloodshed, they were 
given him. When thi' governor of the Slate called for a posse for the same pur- 
pose and to enforce' the law. it was fuinislied also. Had this not been done, it is 
my lirm belief that scenes of bloodsheil would have ensued. 

1'. H. SHERIDAX, 

Licutenant-General. 

Mr. LOG AN. Mr. Pre.sitloiit, after havitio-rondtlio law wliicli reqtiiiv.s 
that none Imt iicr.soiis certilicil to hy tlie .socrctarv of state as bciii<^ 
mcmbci-.s of the Legislature shall participate in that orojuiizatioii, I 
sent to the desk the oflicial report of General Slicridaii. That oHicial 
rei)ort is corroborated by the report of a coniiiiittee of live who liave 
(li'awii lip ii iiKMiiorial and sent it to Congress. It is not only corrob- 
orated by that, but is corroborated by the message of the President 
Avhicli has Ixhmi read at tlie desk this morning. There, tlien, are 
the three oflicial rejiorts made to the Congress of the United .States, 
showing what .' Sliowiug that on the 4th of January a body of men 
assembiod in New Orleans and by force orgtmized one house of the 
Legislatiuc of that State, including Hve men that tlie law said should 



13 

not be included iu the orgauizatiou of the house. The Lieutenant- 
Geueral of the Army says that lie heard frequent threats. Threats of 
what "? Threats of assassination. Of whom ? Of members. For 
what purpose ? For the purpose of giving a majority of that house 
to the democratic party. It was first understood that there were fifty- 
three democrats elected and fifty-three republicans. They kidnaped 
cue republican member, conveyed him away across the country, and 
held him there until the day after that organization had taken place, 
in order to give the democratic party a majority. And yet these kidnap- 
ers and murderers are not to be denounced in this Chamber! They 
are the " gentlemen " of Louisiana, Iiiresume. After kidnaping a mem- 
ber to give them a majority, they then inducted into office five men 
having no certificates whatever. What else ? Iu order to show the 
conspiracy on tlie part of these white-leaguei's and traitors to their 
government, what do they do ? They had some twenty-five meu 
ah'eady selected and put in that chamlier, with a badge under the 
lapel of their coats, and on it in gilt letters "assistant sergeant-at- 
arms." Without any election, Avithout any appointment, they were 
there on the floor of that house — to do what ? To aid in overturning 
that Legislature and in overturning the State government. 

What further ? As soon as this revolutionary jiroceeding occurred 
by Mr. Wiltz seizing the gaA^el and taking the chair, by Mr. Treze- 
vaiit seizing the clerk's desk, and then declaring the house organ- 
ized to the exclusion of fifty-two republican members who were the 
majority iu that hall at that time, only fifty democrats being pres- 
ent, confusion reigned iu the hall, pistols and knives were drawn, 
and bloodshed was about to occur. What then took place ? These 
democrats, who uow stand aghast and tremble at the use of the Army 
as though Banquo's ghost had nuide its appearance, passed a resolu- 
tion and appointed five of their number to wait on the Army and ask 
hem to go into that hall and preserve order that they might proceed 
with their deliberations. Who? They, the democrats; and when 
General De Trobriand appeared iuthat hall the democrats cheered. 
Cheered what ? The approach of the Army into a State Legislature — 
for what purpose ? To keep thi-m iu po\yer. They cheered at that ; 
and is it not strange that they did not cheer the second time that he 
appeared f It makes a difterence whose ox is gored. When he aj)- 
peared and produced quiet on the democratic side, they cheered. Not 
a word would have been heard on that side of this Chamber if Gen- 
eral De Trobriand had installed Mr. Wiltz and sworn him iu, and 
the democratic party had gone on and turned Kellogg out. It would 
have been, as the Senator from Maryland sai<l tlic otlier day, the rising 
of the spirit of liberty in the i)eople and taking possession of their 
own rights. But the scene was changed very soon. 

Fifty-two rejmblicans having certificates clainuMl the right to par- 
ticipate in the organization of tliat house. They were denied that 
riglit by this armed mob, by these armed servile tools of the White 
Leagiie, and robl)ers and nnirdei(?rsof iliat ci(y who had been placed 
there for tlie purpose of awing honest iiicn, awing men wlio were 
peaceably inclined. They did do it. What was tlie result? The 
result was that (iovernor Kellogg then orch-red ( Jeneral De Trobriand 
to do what ? I have the orders hcsre, and I will read them : 

State or Louisiana, Executivk Dkpautment, 

A'ew Orleans, January 4. 

Gftiieral De Tkoiihi.vnd, Commanding .- 

An illegal assembly of men bavins taken possession of the hall of the house of 
representatives, and the i)oli(;e not beiiij; able to dislodge them, I res])oetfully request 
that you will immediately clear the liall and State-bouse of all persons not leturned 



14 

as legal members of the house of roj)i'esentatlvcs by the leturuiiig board of the 
State. 

WM. P. KELLOGG, 
Governor of the State o/ Louisiana. 



EXECUm'E DErARTMENT, 

Xcw Orleans, January 4. 
General De Trohriand: 

The clerk of tlio house, who has in his possession the roll issued by the secretary 
of state of legal members of the house of representatives, will point out to you 
those persons now in the hall of the house of representiitives returned by the legal 
returning boiiid of the State. 

WM. P. KELLOGG, 

Governor of the State. 

It will be seen hy these official coiniinniicnitioiis that Governor 
Kellogg took 110 action whatever until that Legislature had been at- 
tempted, to be organized by a mob, until the elected members had 
been excluded from their right to participate in that organization. 
What then was left for him to do ? He could not with his police 
force keep order. What then was he required to do ? As governor of 
that State, in luy judgment, it was his duty to resort to all the means 
in his xiower to restore order to that State and preserve the peace. 
He then ordered the military. They need not have obeyed him, but 
they did obey him. Wliat was his order ? To clear the chamber, not 
of members elected, but of the disturbing element, the persons not 
elected, those who were disturbing the peace and quiet of the organ- 
ization. What did they do ? They went there and did remove the 
men not elected, and left the mcu on both sides, democrats and re- 
publicans, who had certificates of election, there to organize the Legis- 
lature. The democrats withdi-ew and the republicans organized. 
These are the facts. No elected member was ejected ; no officer 
riglitfully in possession of authority in that house was removed or 
ejected or overawed in any way whatever. No blood was shed. It 
was done in a quiet and orderly manner- And fortius has Grant, has 
Sheridan, has the republican party been denounced from one end of 
this land to the other by clamorous den>ocrats and their allies ! 

In the first place we see that Governor Kellogg issued this order. 
Sheridan had nothing to do with it; Grant had nothing to do with 
it ; the Senate had nothing to do with it ; but Kellogg must take the 
responsibility of issuing the onhn* and the troops take the responsi- 
bility of c^^^'ying the order. There is the responsibility, and there is 
the Avhole of it. Yoiu- denunciation of President Grant for using the 
Army in a h^gislative body goes for naught, for lui knew no more about 
it than you (lid until ho saw it announced in the public prints. 

He is denounced in this Chamber as a usurper, as a tyrant, as an 
oi)j)ressor of the South, in regard to a matter that he knew no more 
about than you did yourselves. J {at you could not wait until the infor- 
mation came; you could not wait until you could hear the truth; you 
could not Avait to see the facts; you could not wait for the country to 
hear the facts ; you must present a false statement before the country 
lo have a clanuir raised before the truth could come, all for political 
jinrposes ami for nothing else. 

Now, sir, witlH)ut justifying or cxcu.sing in any way wliatever the 
action of Governor Kellogg, I say it is his action. He is responsible 
for it. But I should like to put a few cases to the deniocr:!cy here, 
and before I am through I will show that you have indorsed usurpa- 
tions ten times as strong as this you accuse the military of at New 
Orleans, and I will show it from the records, not to lie disputed. 

I ask you what was Kellogg to do with all these things conspir- 



15 

ing together to convince him that a revolntion was imminent, to- 
convince him that rebellion Avas rife tliere in his own State, that 
liis authority would be ignored, tliat treason would be perpetrated 
against the State? I ask you what was left for him to do ? Must he 
quietly submit, must he allow an unauthorized mob, without law or 
authority, to organize itself in defiance of law, and when organized to 
carry out the treasonable plot against the Government? And what 
was that ? As detailed by a man who was in the conspiracy himself 
to a member of the House of Eepresentatives, a man once elected or 
pretended to be to the Senate of the United States, tlie conspiracy 
was, if that Legislature were organized with Wiltz at its head, to 
seize the organization, and then with scaling-ladders, if necessary, to 
take possession of the senate chamber, inaugurate tlie McEnery sen- 
ate which had been out for two years, aud then jiut Kellogg out and 
install McEnery, and appeal to the democratic party to sustain them 
in their revolution. That was the conspiracy. These are the facts that 
will be established — a conspiracy against the government, with an 
understanding that they would be sustained by the democratic party 
all over the country, and that then Grant could not possibly under- 
take to put down or change that government after jt was once estab- 
lished. 

Let me say here to-day that this raid which has been made in the 
Senate Chamber, aud by the New York press, by the New York meet- 
ing before the facts have been placed before the country, bears wit- 
ness to the fact that there must have been some kind of understand- 
ing with somebody that revolution was to be produced in this coun- 
try for the purpose of overturning the Louisiana State government. 
I do not say that men in this Chamber understood it. I say no such 
thing ; but men somewhere understood it. There seems to be a kind 
of spontaneous outburst all over the country on one side against usur- 
jjation, based on falsehood carried with the wings of lightning all over 
this land, when truth refutes every word that has been stated in this 
Chamber and elsewhere in reference to the organization of that Legis- 
lature. 

But, sir, I propose to go a little further in my notions than some of 
my political friends. I believe Avhen a State government is about to 
be overturned that the State authorities have a right to call to their 
aid that necessary force which will protect them in their legal author- 
ity. I believe the Government of the United States, as a govei'u- 
inent, has a right to call to its support that necessary force which 
will subdue iusurrecticm, jiut down rebellion, and punish treason. I 
believe lliat no government can exist unless it has tliat power, and 
unless it will at times exercise that power. Why do I believe this? 
The life of tiie citizen is the life of the State; the dcatli of its citi- 
zens is the deatli of the State ; and war upon its citizens is a war upon 
the State. There is a God-given right inherent in every nnm to use 
such means as may be within his power of employment to protect his 
own life and his own body from harm. It is a well-kiu)wn ])rinciplo 
in law that if a man menaces me in a threatening maimer, with such 
deadly implements as are calculated to make me believe that he in- 
tends to perpetrate Ixxiily harm upon my iierson or cause death, I 
have a right to take his life. 

Every citizen lias that iidierent right in him. The State is made up 
of an aggregation of citizens. Each citizen that becomes a part of 
that aggregate body takes with him that inherent right. When, then, 
we are aggregated togetlier as citizens of a State, we as a govern- 
ment or a State have tliat iidierent right, wiietlicr exj)ressed on our 



16 

statute-books or uot, of self-preservation. That inherent right of 
self-preservation gives to ns the right to exercise sn(!h power as may 
be within our command to preserve the life of the Htate as well as to 
preserve the life of its citizens. Then, sir, when a State is threatened, 
when a nation is threatened with revolution, with treason, when its 
life is threatened, that inherent riglit tliat comes from above and not 
from statute, belongs to it to employ such means as will preserve the 
life and authority of that State. 

If to-day the democratic j)arty were in power in this Senate Cham- 
ber, and yon, sir, without authority of law were to seize that gavel 
and demand obedience to your authority, and the republican minority 
(if they were in the minority) should have around them here all this 
vast number of men with ribbons on their coats and on them printed 
"Assistant sergeant-at-arms ," in order to help enforce your decrees, 
and we should thereby overturn the riglitiul power in this Senate 
Chamber, I ask my democratic friends v.']jat would be their course ? 
They talk about chivalry, they talk about rights, they talk about 
liberty. Would they acquiesce peaceably and calmly or would they 
resort to force ? Would they not appeal to the President of the 
United States, and if the President by his own proclamation could 
not subdue the resistance, what woukl be the resort ? Su])pose the 
galleries here were hissing ; suppose the galleries were shouting ; siip- 
pose they were drawing pistols, Icnives, and bludgeons for the purpose 
of enforcing the decrees of the minority ; what then would be your 
course ? There is uot a man in the Chamber, be he democrat or 
republican, but would answer, " We would appeal to the armed forces 
of the country to sustain the majesty of the Senate under the law." 
And yet you talk about tyranny and q^^pression ! 

Now, I will give you another illustraiion. On the assembling of the 
next House of Representatives you have a democratic majority. 
The l"aw of Congress is precisely tht^ same as the law of Louisiana ; 
or, in other words, the law of Louisiana is co])ied almost verbatim 
from the act of Congress ; and wliat is that ? That the Clerk of the 
old House of Representatives shall place the names of those mem- 
bers on rlie roll who have ccriillcates from tlie governors of their 
States of then- election. Now, sui)pose that Clerk, being a republi- 
can, instead of placing on the roll the names of men having certih- 
cates of the governors, so as to give a democratic majority, should 
place a reTmblican majority on that roll and exclude those having 
certificates, and in that, way organize a republican House of Repre- 
sentatives ; what would you democrats say then ? Would you say " We 
will quietly submit ; we must yield ; they have captured the organiza- 
tion." Isthat the way you would talk? No, sir; every democrat in this 
Chamber would rush to the otlier House ; every democrat in this city 
would rush to that House. You would .appeal to force ; you would 
ask the Army, the Navy, all the power of this Government to restore 
order aiid place your ]iarty in power where tht\v were entitled to be 
according to the certificates of the governors of the different States. 
Do you uot know you would do it ? Does not every man know yon 
would? And yet you are talking about tyranny .and oppression! 

I should like to give my democratic friends a little taste of democ- 
racy on military usurpation, and I will do it right here. It is very 
well for us sometimes to look at onr own record. It is well for us 
re])ub]icaus, whtm we are talking sometiuu's and denouncing demo- 
crats, to examine our own lecord. Now let us examine the demo- 
cratic record of this country as to military usurpation, and see what 
it will prove. I will commence a good way back and see who is con- 



17 

sistciit and who is not. I will commence with one of the leading 
democrats who has lived in this conntry, Andrew Jackson. Speaking 
of the battle of New Orleans, when the forces were nnder the com- 
mand of General Jackson, we find tbis statement of facts recorded : 

General Jackson was involved in nincli trouble liy the conduct of many civilians 
during the carapaiirn, who foi-ixot tliar a (lictatoisliip alone could save the State, 
■whicli'the enemy, had tlu-y been victoiious. would piMihalily have retained, in ^spite 
of the treaty of'Ghent, oii the p-otind that the treaty of lMi3, by which France had 
ceded Louisiana to us, was void .and of no ctlVct, Ihm ausc site had no claim to the 
territory she had sold. A Frenchnian. M. Fouiallier, a member of the Legislature 
of Lf)uisiana, was con.spicuous among the general's enemies, and him tin- general 
had arrested on March 5. Judge Hall, of the United States ilistiict court, granted 
Louialliei's jietition for a writ of habcan corpus, and was liimself aricsteil and im- 
prisoned and then banished from the city. On March 13 martial law was abro- 
gated by .Jackson's oriler, and Hall returned. General Jackson wa.s then arrested 
on a charge of eontemiit of court aiul fined ^1,000. He refused the offers that were 
made from all siiles to pay tlie tine, and piiirl it himself, protectim: the court, which 
conld not liave stooil a niouieut iiuainst his opposition. After his retirement from 
pul)lic life some of his friends re(pu'sted Congress to refund tlie amount of the tine. 
This }>etition was successful after encountering considerable ojiposition ; and the 
bill refunding the money, principal and interest, was passed in February, 1844. — Xeio 
American Cyclopedia, volume 9, 1'tti/e 663. 

Over sixty years ago General Jackson arrested a member of the 
Louisiana Legislature right in the city of New Orleans about which 
this controvei'sy is to-day; he put the judge of the United States 
court in jail and banished him from the city and declared martial 
law, for which he was lined $1,0011. That same General Jackson — 
that same usurper as you wotild call him now since your patriotism, 
is bubbling out at every pore— you elected President of the United 
States in a very few years after he had performed this outrageous- 
act. You democrats did that. This deed was done after the British 
were gone, after they had retired. A member of the Legislature was 
arrested and taken out of the body, and the judge of the United 
States court put i)i jail by the man whom you ek^cted President of 
the United States; and for no act was he more eub>gized after- 
ward by the democracy than for this very act of his. Without say- 
ing whether it was light or wrong, I merely give you the fact to 
show you what you are to-day and what you were yesterday. 

Now, I want to go alittk; further. I want to sliow you how patri- 
otic and devoted to the Constitution of the United States our pure 
democratic friends have always lieen. There occurred a little cir- 
cumstance in Id.";! tliat ])robably is worth relating, and I will (luote 
from the history of the conntry in reference to it. 'I'iiere was a shi ve, 
a runaway slave, by tlie name of Burns, fouud in Boston, ilassachu- 
setts, in May, 18.")4. " Franklin Pierce, the democratic President of the 
United .'>tates, did wliat '! Th(unariucs from tlie navy-yard, t]ic sohliers 
from I'ort Indf]ien(b'nce, and the militia of ISoston, undei' the order of 
a democratic President of tlie United States, entered the city of Bos- 
ton and arrested tiiis fugitive slave. When slavery was your plaulc in 
jiolitics you could talci; the troops to enter tlu^ city of Boston and 
arrest a slave and return him to the State of ^'il•ginia, on a Govern- 
ment vessel, put him in manacles and shackles, and keep iiim a bond- 
man by tlu^ force of tlie Army and ilie Navy; but when tlie Army is 
used to ])rotect liberty and enforce law you howl as tlmiigli a set 
of tyrants were setting lire to your liouses ! This, Mi-. President, was 
democracy in IH'A. It is well enough to u.se the Army and Navy ti> 
enslave men; but wlien you use tlie Army to enforce law, when yon 
n.so the Army to protect the liberty of citizens in a State, it is an out- 
rage, iind tyranny, and oppression unheard of in a civilized country. 

Now, sir, let us follow this a little further. I am not done with 
our democratic militarv records Mit. There is another little instance. 

2e 



18 

where the iiinjority of rlie democrats, when these tilings were taking 
phice, joined in snstaining tlie use of the Army there ; but while the 
tlemocrats were sustaining- President Pierce, you remember there was 
-1 little troul)le over in Kansas. In 1856, in the Territory of Kansas, at 
the town of Topeka, a free State Legislature assembled. President 
Pierce then issued a prochunation that I will send to the Clerk and 
ask to be read. 

DY THE I'ilESniErCT OF T!IE L'XITED STATES OF AMEIUCA. 

A proclamation. 

"Whereas iiiilications exist tliat jmblic tranquillity ami the supremacy of latriu 
41ie Territory of Kuiisas are endauii'iTed liy the re]>reheusii)le acts or purposes of 
persim.s both within au<l witli out tlie same, who propiise to direct aud control it 
political organization l)y foice : it a)i',ieariu>i that c imliinations have been formed 
therein to resist tlie execution of tlie territorial laws, and thus, in etli'ct. subvert 
l)y violence all jin-sent constitutional and le^al authority; it also appearin;; tliat per- 
sons resi<liii^ without the 'I'l^rritorv, but ni-ar its boi-ders, contemplate armed inter- 
vention in tjie aft'airs thereof: it also appearing; that othei- persons, inhaliitauts of 
remote States, are collectinu' money, cnj;ai;in^ men. and providing; arms for the 
same purpose; and it further a])i)earin,;; that combinations within the Territory 
are eudeavoriii.u by the a,!;enc.v of emissaries and otherwise to induce individual 
States of the Union to intervene in tlie alfairs thereof, in violation of the (.'onstitu- 
tion of the United States; and whereas all such jilaiis for the determination of, 
the future institutions of the Territory, if carrieil into action from within the same 
will constitute the fact of insurrection', and if from without, that of invasive a.2.5i-es- 
sion aud will in either case .iustifv aud reiiuire the foicilile interposition of tlie 
whole powei'of the General Government as well to maintain the laws of the Ter- 
ritory as those of the Union: 

Kow, therefore, I, Franlilin Pierce, President of t^ie United States, do issue this 
my ]>roclaination to command all persons enf;;i^e(l in unlawful combiiiiit ions against 
the constituted authority of the Territorv of Kansas or of the United States, to 
disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes ; and to warn all such per- 
sons that any attempted insurrection in said Temtory, or aggressive intrusion 
into the same, will be resisted not only by the employment of the local mil- 
itia, Init also by that of any available i^orces of the United States, to the end of 
assuring immunity from violence and full proti'ction to the persons, projierty, and 
civil riglits of all peaceful and law-;ibiding inhiiliitants of the Territory. 

If in any part of the Union the furv of f;iction or fanaticism, inflamed into dis- 
regard of the great priucii)les of popular sovereignty which, under the Constitu- 
tion, are fiimlamental in the whole structure of our institutions, is to bring on 
the country the dire calamity of an arbitrament of arms in that Territory, it shall 
be between lawless \ iolence on the one side and conservative force on the other 
wielded by legal authority of the General Government. 

I call on the citizens both of adjoining and distant States to abstain from irnau- 
thorized intermeddling in the local concerns of the Territorv, admonishing them that 
its organic law is to lie executed with impartial .justice ; that all individual acts of 
illegal iiiiv-xleience will incur condign punishment ; and that any endeavor to in- 
tervene bv org;inized force will be tirml.y withstood. 

I invoke all good citizens to promote order bv rendering obedience to tbe law 
to seek remedy for tt'inporaiy c\ ils by peaceful means ; to disoonntenaucc and 
repulse the i-ou'nsels and the instigations of agit;itors and ( f disorganizers: and to: 
testify tlieii' ;ittachnient to their country, their jiride in its greatness, their appre- 
ciation of the blessings tlie.v enjoy, and their determiuatioii that republican insti- 
tutions shall not tail in their hamls, b.y co-operating to uphold the majjestj' of tbe 
laws and to vindic;itc the s:iiictity of the Constitution. 

In testimony whereof 1 li;ive hereunto set mj' hand and caused the seal of tbe 
United States to be affixed to these piesents. 

Done at tlu! city of A\'ashiiigton, tbe 11th day of February, in tbe year of oui 
[L. s.] Lord 185tj,'aud of the ludepeiidence of the United States tbe eigbtietb. 

FKANKLIN PIEKCE. 

By tbe President: 

W. L. M.\ucY, Secretary of State. 

Mr. LOGAN. I ask the Secretary now to read the order of Jeffer- 
son Davis, the then Secretary of War, to the forces in Kansas. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

"Washingtox, February 15, 1?5G. 

SiK: Tbe President ba.s by proclamation warned all persons combined for in-- 
sarrection or invasive a'.rgre.ssion against the organized government of tbe Terri- 



19 

tory of Kansas, or associate to resist the due execution of the laws therein, to ab- 
stain from such revohitionary and lawless proceedings ; and has commanded them 
to disperse and return peaceably to their respective abodes on pain of beiug resisted 
by Ids whole constitutional power. If, therefore, the Governor of the ToiTitory, 
finding the ordinary course of judicial proceedinijs and the powers vested in 
United States luarslials iuadeijuate for tlie suppression of insuxrectionary combi- 
nations or armed resistance to the execution of the law, should make requisition 
wpon you to f urnisli a military force to aid him in the performance of that otlicial 
duty, you are hereby directed to employ for that purpose such pait of your com- 
mand as may in your judgment consistently be detached from their ordinary duty. 

In executing this delicate function of tlie military force of the United'States. 
you will exercise much caution, to avoid, if possible, collision with even insurgent 
citizens, and will endeavor to suppress resistance of the laws and constituted author- 
ities by tbat moral force which hajipily, in our country, is ordinarily suiticient to 
secure' respect to the laws of the limd and the regularly-constituted aiithority of 
the Government. Ton will use a souud discretion as to the moment at wliicli the 
further employment of the military force may be discontinued, and avail yoxirself 
of the first opportunity to return with your command to the more grateful and 
prouder service of the soldier — that of the common defense. 

Por your guidance in the premises you are referred to the acts of 2^th of Feb- 
ruary, 1795, and 3d of March, 1807, and to the proclamation of the President, a coijy 
of which is herewitli transmitted. 

Should you nei-d further or nun-e specific instructions, or should in the progress 
of events doubts arise in your mind as to the course which it may be proper for you 
to pursue, you will communicate dii'ectly with tills Dopartmeut, stating the points 
upon which you wish to be informed. 

Verj' respectfuUv, your obedient servant, 

JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

Official copy. 

E. D. TOWXSEND. 

Adjutant-General. 

Mr. LOGAN. Mr. Presiilent, if. -will be seeu Diat at tbi.s time, in 
Feljruaiy, 1S56, after President Pierce bail issued a proclamation for 
the disorderly persons in tbe State of Kansas to disperse, Jefl'erson 
Davis, the then Secretary of War, issued an order to the troops in 
Kansas, putting them under couiniand of the governor of that Ter- 
ritory, to be summoned at his call for the purposes he might reiiuire. 
What followed 1 Let me read : 

Governor Slianiion had left the Ttu'ritory. and Secretary "U'oodson was acting 
governor. Th.- latter went to Topeka, and there issued a proclamation, forbidding 
all persons claimin;; li'gislative power under the Topeka constitution from organ- 
izing. Colonel Sumner, acting under orders from Wasliington, entcri'd tlii' liiiuse 
of representatives. The roll was called by the clerk, and tliis ulticcr icmarked 
that he was about to perform the most disagreeable duty of his life, ami tliat was, 
the dis]icrsiou of x'tw Legislature, lie said his orders were to disperse it ; and, in 
answer to .JmUc Scliuyler, lu' said he slHiuldemjdoy all tlui force necessary to carry 
his orders intu elVect. He tlicii entered tlie senate chamber, and in like manner 
dispersed that body. — Wihon's A'lw and Fall of the Slave Power in America, page 500. 

There is a case for you. In IS'^G, under the orders of the Secretary 
of War, Jeti'. Davis, acting under the autliority of the President 
of the United States, your troops entered the Legislature of an in- 
choate State, anddisixTsed one house and then tlie other. The facts, 
outside of what I have read, are that Colonel Sumner, afterwards 
General Sumner, who was killed in battle, trained his artillery on the 
State-house, stationed his troops at the door, and notified the Legisla- 
ture that he would use all the force in his power.if they did not dis- 
perse. They did disperse. That Avas indorsed by the nuijorit.vof the 
democratic ]iarty all over this country; liut that same democratic 
party who iiidtnsed that invasion of a Legislature aiul that dispersion 
of a Legislatun^ to-day denounce the republican i>arty of the I'nited 
States— fur wiiat f Merely because Kellogg, without the orders of 
the Pi'csident, without the orders of the genenil, put out men who 
were not members of the Legislature, in order to organize men who 
were members of tlie Legislature, in accordance with the laws of the 
State of Louisiana. 



20 

Mr. EDMUNDS. And that at the request of a majority of the 
Lefjishature. 

Mr. LOGAN. Yes, sir. He did not do that until fifty-two men, a 
majority of that house of the Legishxture, had signed a petition to 
hiru, asking him to use the necessary force to put them in their posi- 
tion and to put the mob out. 

Mr. SCHIIRZ. May I ask the Senator a question ? 

Mr. LOGAN, Certainly. 

Mr. SCHURZ. Does he remember the number of the members of 
the house of representatives in Louisiana f 

Mr. LOGAN. I think the number was one hundred and eleven 
allowed bylaw, but the numl>er present was fifty democrats and fifty- 
two republicans. 

Mr. SCHURZ. In that case fifty-two were not a majority of the 
members elected. 

Mr. LOGAN. I will state now, that the Senator may understand 
me, there were fifty-two members on the republican side and fifty 
members on the democratic side who met in that hall that morning. 
The fifty democrats took possession of the hall witli tlie niol) that 
assisted them, but the fifty-two republicans, being a majority of 
those members present, went in a body and petitioned the governor 
of the State to exercise his power to jint them in that hall. Is that 
not the fact, I ask the Senator ? 

Mr. SCHURZ. Is it not also the fact 

Mr. EDMUNDS. First find out whether that is the fact. [Laugh- 
ter.] 

Mr. SCHURZ. Is it not also the fact that when the vote on 
siJeaker was taken fifty-seven votes were cast, one in blank, and that 
therefore republicans took part in the proceedings so far ? 

Mr. LOGAN. Is that the Senator's answer to my question ? 

Mr. SCHURZ. To what question, if the Senator pleases ? 

Mr. LOGAN. I ask the Senator if it was not the fact that the rec- 
ords show there were fifty democrats and fifty-two republicans who 
met in tliat hall that morning? 

Mr. SCHURZ. The record, as far as I understand it, shows that 
fifty-two republicans went out; but as to the fifty democrats I do not 
know. 

Mr. LOQAN. Well, it is not necessary to have any controversy 
about thooC things. I have failed since this discussion has com- 
menced to get the truth out of a solitary man in answer to a question 
of plain fact that the record presents to the country. Now, it is a 
fact, and the Senator does know it, that one huudered and two men 
responded to that roll, fifty democrats and fifty-two republicans, for 
that has been the record all the time, and the Senator cannot help 
but know it. 15nt the facts are things that are not wanted here. 
They petitioned the governor to ])ut the nu)l) out and let th(! Legisla- 
ture organize, and that is wliat he did, and all that he did, and for 
that Grant is denounced, and Grant kiunv no more about it than the 
Senator from Missouri. For tliat Sheridan is denounced and he had 
notliing to do witli it. For tliat the rei)ublican party is denonnceii 
which had no knowledge of it. For that everybody in the republi- 
can party generally is denouneed as not fit to control ov participate 
in the atlairs of this Government. 

Sir, it is sometimes a very good thing for us to continue referring 
to our own record. I have another piece of history here that prolj- 
ably will be of some information to onr well-infornied deniocrats who 
have been talking so loudly about military usm-pation. I have shown 



21 

you that they electerl one President — they elected him twice — who 
was one of these military usurpers. Let me read a little history 
about another military usurper, and for the benefit of my friend 
from Maryland, [Mr. H.oiiLTOX.] I wish he was here. He forgot 
this the other day, although he is a Senator from that State. Here 
is a little order that I hold in my hand dated, "Headquarters of the 
Army of the Potomac, Washington, September 12, 1861," addressed 
to General Banks, a conservative inde]jendent member of the next 
House of Congress: 

Gemsral : After full consultation with tlie President, Secretaries of State, "War, 
&c., it has been decided to effect the operation proposed for the 17th. Arrange- 
ments have been made to have a Government steamer at AnnapoUs to receive the 
prisoners and carrj- them to their destination. 

Some four or five of the chief men in the affair are to be arrested to-day. "Whec 
they meet on the 17th, you will please have everything prepared to arrest thi 
whole party, and be sure that none escape. 

It is understood that you arranged with General Dix and Governor Seward the 
Tnodiis operandi. It has been intimated to me that the meeting might take place 
on the 14th ; please be prepaied. I would be glad to have you advise me frequently 
of your arrangements in regard to this very important matter. 

If it is successfully carried out, it will go far toward breaking the back-bone of 
the rebellion. It would probably be well to have a special train quietly prepared 
to take prisoners to Annapolis. 

I leave this exceedinglj' important affair to your tact and discretion, and have 
but one thing to impress upon you, the al)solute utit.ssity of srcncv and success. 
With the highest regard, I am, mv dear general, yoiu- siiuin- t'rii iid, 

GEORGE 15. McCLELLAX, 
Major-General, United States Army. 

Now, what was this order for ? To arrest the Maryland Legislature. 

Mr. CONKLIXG. Aud Maryland had not been declared in insur- 
rection. 

Mr. LOGAX. And Maryland had not been declared in secession. 
General Banks issued his instructions, which I will read, to Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Kuger, commanding the Third Wisconsin Regiment : 

Sir: The Legi.slature of Maryland is appointed to meet in special -session to-mor- 
row, Tuesday, September IG. It is not impossible that the members, or a portion 
of them, may be deterred from meeting there on account of certain arrests recently 
made in lialtimore. It is also quite po.ssible that on the first day of meeting the 
att<udanii- may be small. Of the facts as to this matter I shall see that .you are 
well iiifiirnii'd as tiny tr.anspire. It becomes necessary that any meeting of this 
Li'gislatiuT at any jilacr- or time .shall be jirevented. 

You will hold yourself and your command in readiness to arrest the members of 
both houses. A list of .sucli as you are to detain will be iiiilnscd to you herewith, 
among whom are to be e.specially included the presiiling tilliccrs of tlie two liouses, 
secretaries, clerks, and all subordinate ofticials. Let tlie arrests be certain, and 
allow no chance of failure. The arrests should be made while they are in session, 
I think. 

There is the order. The arrest sliall be made while they are in 
session. 

You will, upon the receipt of tliis, quiitly examine the premi.sos. T am informed 
that escape will be impossibU, if tlie entrance to the buihling be held by you. Of 
that you will .judge uj)on cxaiiiination. If no session is to Ite hehl, you will arrest 
such members as can be found in Frederick. The ])ro< ess of arrest .should be to 
enter both hous(\s at tlie same time, announcing tliat tluy were arrested by orders 
of the Government; command tlieiu to remain as lliey are. subject to your orders. 

Any resistance will be forcibly sujjpressed, whatever the conseiiuences. ITijon 
these airests being efiected, the members that are to lie detained will be placed ou 
board a special train for AnnapoUs, where a steamer will await them. 

There is the order of General George B. McClellaji, a democrat ' 
tliere is the instruction of General Banks, an indejiendent member of 
the next Congress ; and there is the arrest of the Maryland Legisla- 
ture by the order of the general commanding, and you ran him for 
President the first chance you got afterward. xVnd yet you are vio- 



22 

lently opposeil to tlicso arrests! How strange it is that all of these 
arrests, all of these usurpations, all of these outrages heretofore iu 
this country have been committed by democrats and men who have 
been sustained by democrats, and yet to-day the mere authorizing of 
men to perform their duty uiulcr the law by an officer of the Army 
has caused one of the greatest commotions that ever was known iu 
the democrat tea-pot in this country! 

Mr. President, when I heard the clamor of these gentlemen here 
a few days ago, I commenced reflecting whether these democrats had 
ever done any wrong iu their lives. I connuenced studying, and 
asked myself, "Is it x^ossible that the re])uldican party have been 
such violators of law, such criminals as they have been accused of 
being, and that the democratic party have been pure all their lives 
without taint or blemish'" You would think to hear them talk iu 
this Chamber that they were saints come down from heaven to 
minister here among men. Yet we find they are not saints. Yet we 
find, by examining history somewhat, that they have not beeu so 
saintly and pure all the days of their lives as they would make the 
people believe if the people would believe them. I should like merely 
to say this in their presence : AVhile you have denounced Phil. Sheridau 
almost as a barbarian, as cruel, and inhuman, I would like merely to 
suggest to you that sometimes history does rei>eat itself. Oue mau 
was made President for making New Orleans behave itself, and it 
might make a second. 

Next, let me for a moment call the attention of the Senate and of 
the country to what is going on about us to-day. Our people seem 
to be alarmed — at what ? Not at the action of President Grant, for 
he has taken no action ; but the country is made to believe that ho 
has perpetrated a great wrong ; not that auy great wrong has been 
done, but the mere pretense of a wrong for purposes of some kind or 
other — I know not Avhat they are — which are covered up. Let me 
ask my demoei-atic friends what they mean by such resolutions as 
these which I send to the clerk's desk and ask to have read .' 

The Chief Clerk reak as follows: 

THE VIUGDCIA LEGISLATURE ON THE LOUISIANA AI'TAl!'.. 

KicimoNU, Virginia, January 0. 

The following resolutions were introduced in the senate: 

" licsolrrd 'i!/ the (leneral Assembly of the Commomvealth of Virginia. That the 
jjovcriKirs of the States coiniKisiuf; tlie I'liitoil States of Ainei'iea be, and they are 
lieii'liy, earnestly re(|uested to convene as soon as prai'tiealih- tile Lenishltuies of 
their res|)eetive Stales, in order tliat tlie States may eonsnll to^^ctlier and advise 
with each otiier resipcctinsi the late inrerference of the Army of tlie I'nited .States 
with the Kenislatnre of the State of Louisiana, and determine siiiiultani'oiisly and 
Ipromptly \\ jiat is necessary to be doue to defend and jireservc the iiiih'peiuk'nco 
and autonomy of the .States. 

" Jicnolrcd, That the jiovemor of this Conimonwoalth be. and he is hereby, re- 
quested fiuthwitli to telesraph these resolutions to the governors of the several 
States and re([Uest immediate reiilies." 

Animated and ]u-olon<j:ed discussion ensued, in which a spirit of moderation pre- 
dominated, leadini: si'nators ojiposint; Virgini.a taking the initiatory movement as 
a State in tliis t;rave matter. It was the gencTal ojiiniou, liowever, that Virginia 
slionld give I'xincssion of sentiment through her Legislature in the form of a 
protest against the action of the General (Tovernment in relation to Louisi.ana, and 
an appeal to the Auurican people for reiiress, and also to exjiress the dee]>and last- 
ing sympathy of the people ot Viiginia with the people id' their sistei' State of 
Louisiana. At the conclusion of the discussion the whole matter was hud over and 
ma<le the special order for Tuesday-, at oue o'clock. 

Mr. LOGAN. Here we have old Virginia resolving that all the gov- 
ernors of the different Sttxtes shall meet together forconsultation — on 
what ? On the outrage perpetrated by the Armj- of the United States 



23 

on the Lonisiaua Leaislature! Wliicli outrage? The one that was 
perpetrated by the democrats calling in the military, or the one that 
■was perpetrated by the republicans calling in the military ? The one 
by tlie republicans, as a matter of course. The other could not be au 
outrage, because our democratic friends did it. It is only that which 
we do that is an outrage. I ask what does this mean ? What are 
the governors to meet for? Suppose they conclude that it is an out- 
rage, what do they pro]iose to do? To secede? Is that the object ? 
To go into another rebellion ? Is that the proposition ? What else 
do they propose? Sir, I remember well when the same kind of thing- 
started in the South a few years ago. Resolutions were introduced 
in Southern State Legislatures calling the Southern States into con- 
sultation ; and what was the result of that consultation ? The result 
was rebellion and bloody war against this Government. What do all 
these things that now surround us prove to us ? Is it for peace they 
want these governors to meet ? Is it to suppress unlawfulness that 
they want them to meet? Is it to suppress Ku-Klux and White 
Leagues ? If so, we are trying to do that without the governors meet- 
ing. Or is it for the other purpose? Is it to organize themselves to- 
gether to resist the National Government of the United States, and to 
stand l)y Penn and his rebellion against the government of the State 
of Louisiana ? Sir, methiuks the latter is the purpose ; that it is to 
>staud by the insurgents in the State of Louisiana, that thereby a new 
rebellion may be organized against this Government. We have been 
told already that the northern people were tired of this thing. We 
have been told already that the northern jieople have grown surfeited 
in reference to this cry and in reference to the administration of 
these governments. We have been told alreadj' that the North was 
yielding to their clamor and would stand by them. In my judg- 
ment the very moment that is proven to the peojile of this country, 
there are men, and plenty of them, too, in the Southern States ready, 
and armed and equipped, to rise in revolt against this Government and 
seize it and destroy it, as was attempted once before ; and this is but 
the mere outcropi^ing of it in the old State of Virginia in her reso- 
lutions. 

Ah ! but we have been reminded on this floor of the past patriotism 
of Virginia. We have been told in eloquent strains that Virginia had 
furnished us a Washington, a Patrick Henry, and a Jetferson. True, 
but that was a longtime ago; the second lu'ood furnished us by Vir- 
ginia did not equal the lirst. 

I have no hate for these southern ])eople. I would meet tliem to-day 
with an affectionate grip of the hand if they would only yield a wil- 
ling obedience to the laws of the country. But until they do that, 
I tell them that while the nortliern people may be beguiied into 
voting their ticket and nuiy possibly be annoyed initil they will let 
them for a tenijiorary purpose ha^e control of this (Uivernmeut, they 
must not flatter themselves that they can usurp the powers of tliis 
Government aiul trample under foot the rights of tlie jx-ople, either 
white or black, for a much longer time, without arousing such a feel- 
ing of the northern mind and in tlie northern heart as will exercise 
that power silently wliich belongs to numbers at the ballot-box; and 
it is the only way they ]>ropose to exercise their ])Ower or control, and 
it is th(? only way that they ever attempted to do so. 

Mr. SAKGENT. Will the Senator all()\v me to cite a section of the 
Constitution showing that the action proposed by the Legislature of 
Virginia is directly opposed to that instrument and is unconstitu- 
tional ? 



24 

Mr. LOGAN. Ccrtaiuly. 

Mr. SAEGENT. It is a clause of section 10, article 1 : 

No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep 
troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact ■with 
another State or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded 
or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. 

Mr. DAVIS. One moment. I understand that A^irginia passed no 
such resolution. It was introduced by some member, debated, and 
laid over. 

Mr. SARGENT. I simply said that the action referred to, which 
was proposed in the Legislature of Virginia, was in violation of the 
Constitution. 

Mr. LOGAN. My friend from California reads the Con.stitution to 
show that that action would be in violation of it. That is a matter 
that we all understand. But at the same time that we kuow that, 
that would not interfere materially with Virginia, whether it was 
unconstitutional or not. [Laughter.] 

After discussing all these propositions and probably at more length 
than I should have done, I have not yet done the subject justice, nor 
can I. It does not belong to my feeble powers to do justice to this 
question, to this outrage that has been perpetrated upon the people 
of this country by falsifying the facts with reference to the conduct 
of these people within the State of Louisiana. 

Some remarks have been made upon this floor peculiar in their 
strength and strained, I must say, in the manner of their utterance. 
Our amiable friend from Delaware, [Mr. Bayaud,] who seldom so far 
forgets himself as to use harsh language toward any one, iu his calm 
and deliberate speech the other day made use of language that I must 
say aroused somewhat in me a feeling difterent from that which I 
desire to have in reference to that Senator, for I have always had 
great respect for him. He said, in speaking of General Sheridan's dis- 
patch, " Let us see if that man Sheridan is lit to Ijreathe the free air of 
a republic." He then said his acts were those of cruelty and dis- 
graceful to the American nation. If Sheridan is not fit to breathe the 
free air of the Republic, I appeal to heaven to name the man in this 
land who is. If Sheridan, after having done asmuch perhaps as almost 
any man beneath the shining sun to preserve this Republic, is not lit 
to breathe its free air, tell me the uame of that living man who is ? 
What are we to infer from such language as this ? If a man is not 
fit to breathe the free air of a republic, he is not fit to hbld office under 
it. If his acts are disgraceful to this country, he is unfit to wear the 
badge of official i)ositii)n. All tliis being the case iu the estimation of 
the Senator from Delawan,', we have plainly depicted on the canvas 
that is now moving be fore us that winch will liedoiu' when they succeed 
to power. What is it i' A\lieii the demcjcrats shall liave control with 
their allies, wliat shall we expect ? Sheridan is not fit to breath, the 
free air of a republic ; he is a disgrace to the nation; he must go out. 
Sherman, too, indorsing Sheridan, unist go out. Grant must pass away. 
All the men that hel))ed save the Republic are now a disgrace to the 
Republic. They must bow themselves out, and you nmst bow your- 
selves in. Who l)ow iu ? Your Earlys, your Davi.ses, and others of like 
ilk, your men that tried to destroy the Government by tliunderingat 
its gates for four years, trampling the Constitutimi and laws under 
foot, violating their i)aths as citizens, are to take their places. Is that 
what you mean? I waut to know it now if that is the meaning of the 
remarks of the Senator from Delaware. Sir, it will be a good while 
in this country before a little indiscreet remark in a dispatch that has 



no force in it, that cannot be executed in any way whatever, will 
cause the American people to forget the gallantry of a man like Phil. 
Sheridan. This couutry will have to be subsoiled and plowed over 
and the bones of every soldier iu this land buried so deep that you 
cannot touch them before such a man will stand in disgrace for an in- 
discreet remark in a dispatch. The geutleman who undertook to 
bury his patriotism, to destroy his fair fame and his fair name by such 
remarks in this Chamber did not well understand the hearts of the 
American people. 

Mr. BAYARD rose. 

The PRESIDING OFFICFR, (Mr.FERKV,of Michigan, iu the chair.) 
Does the Senator from IlUuois vield to the Senator from Delaware? 

Mr. LOGAX. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BAYARD. I understand that my rights here to comment upon 
the character of any officer of the United States are secm-ed to me by 
law, and they are to be exercised by me iu my owu conscientious dis- 
cretion. What I have said of this oiiicer was said sincerely, believing 
it to be true. If he is painted in a light that renders him discredita- 
ble to the people of this country, he is drawn so by his owu hand. I 
asked the members of this Senate, and I asked the American people, 
and I repeat the question, let them read this officer's intent and mean- 
ing by his own dispatches, and then ask if he is tit to breathe the free 
air of a republic; and if he can breathe it and can put into eftectthe 
threats contained iu his dispatches, then he will be the only man who 
will breathe free air, for the rest of us who survive will be the mere 
slaves of his Avill. I do not ])ro])Ose to euter into competition with 
the honorable Senator in his admiration of General Sheridan. I dis- 
tinctly stated that I had no disposition to detract iu the least degree 
from any portion of his.inst renown. But whatever may or may not 
be my admiration of military glory, I do here profess and always 
shall jirofess my superior admiration and respect for the i)ower of the 
law, which the most brilliant soldier should not be permitted to sur- 
pass. The liberties of my fellow-citizens are dearer to me tlian the 
renown of the soldier who seeks only to smirch the laurels he may 
have gained heretofore by an assault upon the liberties of his fellow- 
citizens in Louisiana. His dispatch as read by me was that which I 
called upon the country to judge liim by. 

Mr. LOGAN. I do not think I yielded to a speech. 

Mr. BAY^ARD. "Well, Mr. President, the honorable Senator has 
referred to me several times in the course of this debate. I did not 
desire to interrupt liim, as ho was making a very earnest sp(>ech ; 
but as I had l)een referred to so often by him, and now again iu con- 
nection with something like a])erorati()n of that portion of his speech 
in respect to General Sheridan, I thought it proper just at this time 
to rise and say what I have said. I ask the American people to 
let General Sheridan draw his own character by the light of his own 
dispatches. If they can apjirove of the recommendation that the 
President of the United States can drive beyond the ])ale of the law 
citizens of any State, and leave them to the short rope and short 
shrift of a drum-head court-martial, then the honora1)le Senator may 
liud that they agree with him. If not, as I l)elieve, the great body 
of the law-al)iding sentiment of the peojde of this country will agree 
with me iu every word that Iliave said in regard to him. 

Mr. LOGAN. I am glad that I gave the Senator an oi)portnnity to 
repeat what he liad said bef'oic. it only shows the feeling that tiiere 
is in the heart. Sometimes when we Iiavesaid hard and harsh things 
against a fellow-man. when we have cooling time we retract. If, 



26 

after we have hail cooling time, tlio bitterness of our heart only im- 
pels ns to repeat it again, it only shows that there is deep-seated feel- 
ing there which cannot be uprooted by time. I gave the opportunity 
to the Senator to make his renewed attack on Sheridan. I will now 
say what I did not say before, since he lias repeated the remark, that 
his attack upon Sheridan and his declaration that Sheridan is not lit 
to breathe the free air of a republic, is an invitatiou to the White 
Leagues to assassinate him. If he is not fit to breathe the free air, 
he is not fit to live. If he is not fit to live, he is but fit to die. It is 
an invitation to them to i)erpetrate murder upon him. 

Now let me go fiu-thcr. I announce the fact licre in this Chamber 
to-day, and I defy contradiction, that the democracy in this Chamber 
have denounced Sheridan more since this dispatch was published 
than they ever denounced Jetf. Davis and the whole rebellion during 
four years' war against the Constitution of this country. I dislike 
much to say these things ; but they are true, and as the truth ought 
not to hurt, I will say them. 

But we are told that the people of the South are loyal and true to 
the Government. We are told by our friend from North Carolina 
[Mr. Merrimon] that peace reigns in that State, peace reigns in 
Georgia, in Alabama, in every State in the South. When you men- 
tion here the fact that disorders are existing in Southern States 
you find Senators Jumping up at every corner and saying, "There 
is no trouble in nn'y State." Our fiiend from North Carolina says 
there is no trouble in his State. They did elect a Ku-Klux judge 
down there, but still they have no trouble. It was necessary prob- 
ably to protect the rest of* the Ku-Klux aud therefore it gave peace ! 
My friend from Maryland says, " Give the democrats control of the 
Southern States and you will have peace, but you cannot have it 
unless they have control !" I do not doubt that this is true, but 
what a peace that would be ! I have heard that remark bef(n-e. Do 
you not remember— sir, I know you do — that some fourteen years 
ago the only remark was " Let us' alone," " Let us alone '?" The only 
remark was^ "Do not interfere with us and you will have peace; if 
you do not make war we will not." This remark of " Let us have 
the States and we will give you peace " is the cry of men seeking 
to destroy the Governnient by insinuating themselves into power, 
and if they cannot insinuate themselves into power they will use 
terror, threat, murder, and everything else for that purpose. Give 
the democracy contrcd and you'will have peace, but if they caunofe 
have control they will not let us have peace ! 

They failed to'get control once before and we did not have peace. 
Because they could not get control they made war. If you will give 
them control now they will not make war, but if you do not they 
will. That is about the proposition. How long has it been since 
we have had this glorious peace in North Carolina? We have peace 
there nov,-, I admit it. I have not been there but I am told it is true. 
How long has it been since wo have had that i)eace 1 But a short 
time ago men were hanged, men were murdered, men were driven 
from the country, men were atlrighted and alarmed in that State,, 
and armed forces' had to be sent there to suppress the Ku-Klnx ; and 
the only way it Avas suppressed, and the only reason why you have 
peace iii North Carolina to-day, is that we tried your Ku-Klux and 
sent them to the penitentiary; and Grant told you that you had to 
stop or he would make you do it, and you stopped through fear, not 
because you desired it. Men talk about always havhig had peace in, 
their States, when on the trial of these Ku-Klux for their outrages 



27 

such language ^n-as hardly ever heard as "was uttered by the attorney 
of the Kii-Kiux himself. He said their crimes were so atrocious that 
they were not to l>c listened to by civilized men, and they came up 
and confessed their crimes and many were sent to prison, and that 
gave peace. 

But we are told that they have j)eace in Georgia, and my good 
friend from Georgia, the Senator farthest from me, [Mr. Gokdox,] 
and he is a good-natured man, says they have perfect peace in their 
State ; that there is no imx^ositiou upon voters, there there is no intim- 
idation, everything is lovely ; that things are in democratic hands 
and everything goes on quietly. I do not want to get into any dis- 
cussion with him, but I believe I am safe in saying — and if he will 
listen to me and I do not state it correctly I am subject to be cor- 
rected — that I believe there was a time iuGeoi-giawlientheyhad Ku- 
Klux in that State. If that is not true, then of course I will take it 
back. I do not know that the Senator himself ever belonged to them, 
but there is a little printed information here that might be very 
good for the country. I want the Senator from Georgia to under- 
stand that I do not do this for the purpose of criticising him or mak- 
ing any attack upon him, but I merely wish to read one or two little 
paragraphs of testimony taken before a committee to see whether his 
statement that Georgia is such a quiet and peaceable State and 
always has been is correct. AVe all know what the Ku-Klus wei"e. 
The evidence before the country would satisfy anybody what the 
Ku-Klns organization is, what it was for, what its objects were, and 
what they did. Now, when this committee was taking testimony, and 
the chairman of the committee [Mr. Scott] is }) resent — if I do not 
state correctly he can correct me — there was a gentleman sworn 
before that committee by the name of John B. Gordon, of Georgia. 
I do not know whether that is the Senator or not, but that is the 
name given. The chairman of the committee can say, or the Senator 
can say himself. In speaking about- the Ku-Klux the question was 
asked : 

Toil say that upon tliat appreliensioa of danger this organization was foundocl ? 

He said it was founded upon an apprehension of danger and for 
defensive i)urposes. The testimony then goes on : 

Question. In what year was it founded ? 

Answer. I do not know ; I think it was in 1SC7 or 18C8, or along there ; it may 
have been in ls(;(;. 

Q. Did I niidrrstand you to say that it prevailed over the whole State ? 

A. Ko, sir ; 1 supposed it did ; I did not know whether it did or not. 

Q. What ollicc did yon hold in it, if any ? 

A. I did not hold aiiy ofUce. 1 was spoken to in regard to holding an office, but 
I never held any. The organization never was peiiected, as I have already stated. 

Q. In regard to holding what office were you spoken to ? 

A. I do not know that it is necessary to answer that question unless you insist 
upon it. 

Q. I insist upon an answer. 

A. I was sixikcn to as theehief of the State. I said very emphatically th.atupon 
that line I could be called on if it was necessai-y. But the organization never waa 
perfected, and I never heard anything more about it after that time. 

I only read this langtiage to give the Senator the opportunity of 
saying whether he belonged to it or not. Tiiis evidence would h>ok 
asthough he did. I find this in the report of the investigating com- 
mittee. 

Now, when we say that these Ku-Klux were spread over the State 
and they were merely for defensive purposes that is ail very well, 
but the country understands what Ku-Klux were just as well if tliero 



28 

■were not any witness to state what they were. They know all about 
the band, about its organization anil all about it. Now, further; I may 
be mistaken in saying that in my judgment our friends South, and I 
do not blame them for being zealous in their own cause, I find no fault 
with them for that, but they do not believe there is any turbulence 
down there, they do not believe there is any bad ])lood down there ; 
and I will tell you why. My friend the Senator did not believe there 
was any bad blood in Georgia and does not think there is anything 
wrong there because these things have continued so long. I remem- 
ber in the election of 1860 I had a friend, Stephen A. Douglas, who 
was a friend of mine and I was a good friend of his. In that year he 
undertook to travel through the State of Georgia. In the town of 
Atlanta he was insulted, grossly insulted, there in the city of Atlanta, 
when he was a candidate for President of the United States. When 
even before the war the people had that feeling toward northern 
luen it is not to be expected that the feeling would be more kind 
to-day than it Avas then. 

I do not intend to call my friend the Senator to account for any- 
thing he said. I much prefer that his State should be in the condi- 
tion that he says it is. I hope it is. I hope his people are peaceable, 
that they are (juiet and orderly, and loyal to the Government; and 
I have no right to dispute his word, nor will I ; but I have a com- 
munication here, from a man avIio I expect he knows, and I will ask 
the Clerk to read it. The man has written it, and handed it to me, 
over his own signature. Of course I am not responsible for it; but 
he says it is a fact, and gives me the privilege to have it read at 
the desk, and I will ask that it be read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

■WAsmxGTOX Ciir, January 1-2, 1875. 

Sir; In obedience to your request, I herewith submit a few facts and circum- 
stances touching the iiolitical condition of Georsia, embraced within my knowhnlge 
and experience durins the last two or three years. ***** 

I will begin by making the broad assertion that, no man having republican pro- 
clivities or sentiments can acquire or hohl any social position in Georgia; that 
wiienever and wlierever it is known that a man i.s a republican, that man is at once 
proscribed and ostracized by everj- democratic element, whether found in male or 
female. 

In 1872 I dared to run for Congress in opposition to the nominee of the democratic 
party. Up to tluit d;ite my social ]i(isitii)M in the city of Americus was as liigh as 
thatof any other citizen. " 1 and my family were invited to all public and private 
entei taiiimcnts. Since then we have- been ixiiutedly lift out in the "cold," and 
the oiilv re;isiin assigned for it w;is. that I was ;i candidate for Congress on the 
(!i:uit ticket ;ni(l sn])iioited by republii alls, liut tlie '■ fc;it her that broke the camel's 
back " (iccunc'd hist suninier.' when I was nomin;ited liy the icpiibliian p;irty of my 
district fur ('oni:rrss. Tliis liirunistance alone UKide ni\- ostrai'ism ;is jierfect as 
tliat of lIor:iee Greeley would ha\e lieen had be i:nni' to (ieoigi;i twenty -live years 
ago. At no moment when out of my (ittiee or away from my hotel did 1 feel tliat 
mylifewaswoithabanbee. Threat afti'ithreiit w;is received of assassiii:it ion, riding 
on rails, and tai' and feathers. The entire jncss of the Slate heaped iibiise iinil 
anathemas iiiion nie, and why? Simiily beeause 1 had accepted the re]iuUli<aii 
nomination. Vet .Senators have the hiirdihood to assert that allis "serene " in 
Georgia, that repiililicans are free and untninimeled in the expres.sion of their 
political opinions, that they enjoy eveiy cardinal principle of constitutioual govern- 
ment. 

At midnight after my nomination scores and scores of democrats came to my 
hotel and serenaded me with tin i)ans, bass driinis. tin horns, jiieees of old sheet 
iron, itc, ap])lyiiig to me every kind of insulting epithets. These iieoph' w crejier- 
mitled thus to insult justice and right undisturbed by a vigilant ooliee, and tho 
next day were di.scliarged by the mayor of tlie city wlu'U arraigned for disorderly 
conduct. On the saiix' night these dc'iiiocrats w ent to the house of B. F. Bell, a re- 
]iubliean, with their tin jians and other discord;int instrunients, serenaded and 
abused him for lieing a damned radical in tlie ])reseiiee;iiid hearing of a sick wife. 

In my district tlicre are between twenty-one and tw eiity-tliree thousand voters 
and my opponent conceded that the republicans had twenty-tive hundred ma- 



29 

jority ; yet there were only between twelve and thirteen thonsand votes polled u 
the entire district, and why ? Because the republicans were not permitted or 
allowed to vote. It was the policy and i)lan of the democrats not to open the polls 
at any precinct remote from the court-honse precincts where there was a predomi- 
nance of republican voters, (thei-e being no law in Georgia to compel any person or 
persons to open the polls.) For instance, at Danville, in my county, and sixteen 
miles ft-oni the court-house, I liad requested a large number of my party to assem- 
ble for the purpose of voting. The magistrates and other men who were to man- 
age the election, all democrats, delayed the opening of tlie polls under one pre- 
t-ext and another untilthree o'clock \^. m , tlu^i hour for closing the polls in country 
precinct~s in Georgia. Then tlicse fair-de.iling men would anuoiuice it was too late 
to have an election. It was also too late for the colored repul)licans towalksix- 
t<>en miles to the court-house, but the democrats would mount th(>ir horses and 
gallop to town in time to vote, and, after getting there, boast of their great feat 
of swindling me out of two or three hundred votes. At Antioch and Florence, 
in the county of Stewart. I lost one thousand votes in the same way. At Sum- 
terville, in Lee County; at Lick Skillet, in Schley County ; and Harrell. in Pula.ski, 
and other country precincts, ranging from sixteen to' twenty miles from their 
respective court-houses, hundreds and hundreds of republicans were deprived of 
their baUots in the manner heretofore described. For this reason tJiere was a 
small vote polled in Georuia. and for this reason and others that I will hereafter 
mention I was defeated for Congress. 

In the city of Americus where I live, there was but one place of voting. The 
ballots were handed to managers through a window. In fiont of this window the 
colored voters fonned a line and stood throughout the entire day like a stone wall, 
each one waiting for his turn to vote. The democrats did everything in their 
power to break their line and scatter them. For instance, they would go among 
them puthng tobacco smoke in their faces, snatching tickets from them, throwing 
cayenne pepper among them, ]iursuailinir. begging, and trying to bribe them to 
vote the democratic ticket. At least half of the colored voters were challenged, 
the challengers asking aU kinds of silly questions, such as "Are j'ou old enough to 
vote?' when perhaps the voter was rifty years old. "Have you paid your tax ?" 
wlien the voter actually had his tax receipt in his hand. "Havn't yoii got some 
other name T' and other foolish questions. Indeed, everything w.is done to delay 
voting on the part of republicans and kill time until six o'clock. The consequence 
was scores and scores of colored voters went away without voting, thinking that 
six o'clock would come before they would have a chance to present their ballots. 
On the other hand, democratic votfis were received l)y the managers without a 
nioimnt's hesitation, and there was no democrat challenged or required to .show 
his tax-receipt (hiring the day. My nephew was afraid to vote for me. because he 
was told tliar it would injure his business. The employers of my son-in-law were 
asked and imidored by many deiiiiK rats to discharge him becau.sohe voted forme. 
Many old cu.stomers of the house act ually declared they would never patronize the 
hou.s'o while my son-in-law was conneeted with it. His whole sin consisted iu 
voting for his father-in-law, as he is and always has be<'n a democrat. 

During last Seiiteniber Captain 11, L. Kreiich (an eniiiloye in a large dry-goods 
store) del hired himself an indepenihuit candidate for the State senate. His em- 
ployers told him plainly that they would discharge him if he dared to run against 
the democratic nominee. Thusthe senator from my district was permitted to 
walk over a course where t lie republican iii.ijoiity was from twelve to lif teen hundred. 

The day after my nomination for Coiigiess Dr. McLeod left my lioti 1 diclaring 
that he could not .stay in the same honse with ,a republican. Another boarder (Mrs. 
Dr. Burt) requested "the landlady to jprovide her another table as she could not sit 
and eat at the same table with radicals. The result was that a table had to be pro 
vided exclusively for my family. 

In my town I could give circiimstance after circumst.T.nce, exainiile after exemple, 
by way of illustrating the intense hatred of denioerats towaiil whiti- ri'i>ublicans, 
and showing the utter and comidete proscription of the latter, but I will close the 
scene on my county after adding that on the second night after the election I was 
insulted in every conceivable way. The democrats had a torch-light procession, 
and through transparencies I was caricatured as a hog, an ass, and in various 
other ways and forms, tlie whole thing ending by burning me iu eltigy. Yet, ac- 
cording to the speeches of some men in Washington, Georgia is a free <'ountry 
where every man, of whatever political hue, can express his sentiments undisturbed 
and unmolested. 

On the day of election, in the county of Taylor, the tax-collector refused to 
receive poll-tax from coh)red voters who tendered the money, thereby depriving 
them of their legal right to vote. 

In the county of Macon, at the October election, the tax-collector was requested 
by democrats to close his books and cease receiving poll-tax from ctdored voters, 
thereby depriving scores and scores of republicans from voting. In the same 
county, at Oglethorpe, one colored man was not permitted to vote because ho was 



30 

more than fifty yoars old. At ^larsliullsvillo, iu the same county, a number of col- 
ored uii'u \vlii> had been rivsidents of the county from two to live months, and who 
were born in tlie State and never out of it, were not permitted to vote because they 
had not been in the eiHinty six mouths, when the law only requires thirty daya. 
Tliese men had lived in the district for years. 

In thecciuuty of Pulaski, wlicre the republicans number'more than one thousand, 
I received but tliirty-two votes. Tliey went to the court-house to^vn for tlie piu-- 
pose of viitiiiL', but dcmociats threatened the lives of all men who voted for me, 
and otlierwise intimidated them. Mr. King, the only white republican iu the 
county, advised thrin nut to vote, but to go quietly to their respective homes. In 
this way btuidieds ami hundreds of colored republicans were deprived of their 
rii;lit of sullVai;e at llawkinsville. In the s.ame county, "W. S. Bush, a wliite re- 
publican tiom the neinhl)oring county of Wilcox, was waylaid, beaten, and pre- 
vented fi-om mukin;; ;! s])efeh before the election. 

The forciidiuu jiuiies refer entirely to my ilistiict, and I could goon and elaborate 
at great length, giving other eireumsianees ami facts showing the utter fal.sity of 
the assertion that we have uniet and fair elections in (ieorgia; thati)eace and har- 
mony jirevail there ; but time and siiac e adinonish me to stop. The most of the facts 
thus far stated have couu^ within my knowledge and personal experience, and the 
others are derived from sources whose truthfulness and genuineness I cannot 
doubt. Therefore I hold myself, to any man, at any time and place, responsible for 
their utterance. 

llespectfully submitted, 

JACK EROWX. 

General Joiix A. Logax. 



Januarij 14, ISTo. 

Mr. LOGAN. Mr. President, yesterday when the inotion was made 
tliat the Senate proceed to tlio consideration of execntive business 
with my consent, I had very nearly conchided the remarks which I 
deemed it proper to submit to the Senate on this question. I hope on 
coming to this question again to-day that I shall not detain the Sen- 
ate at any very great length. I had gone over the question, so far as 
the facts surrounding the government of Louisiana at the time of 
tlie issuance of his order to the military were concerned, and the ac- 
tion on the part of the luilitary in view of the law under which the 
Legislature was to be organized, and had referred to all that which I 
deemed it proper to comment upon in that connection. At the time 
that I suspended my remarks, htjwever, I had just had read at the desk 
of the Secretary a communication made to me by a man, a Georgian 
by birth, a resident of that State at this time, a candidate for Con- 
gress on the republican ticket at the last election. Of this man I 
know noihing save tluit which I have heard in reference to him here. 
I am tohl that he was n colonel counuanding a regimeiit in the confed- 
erate iirmy agtiinst the Government of the United States: that on 
that side he inoved liimself a galhint soldier. This would not in my 
estimation add anything to liis c'uaracter as a man of honor or a man 
of veracity ; but to my friends on the opposite side it ought not, at 
least, to be in derogation of his cliaractey. Whether the statements 
made by him be true or false it is not for me to say, but for others to 
say who have knowledge of the facts. I had the eonnnunieation read 
for the reason that we htivebeen told in this Chamber that all waspeace 
and quiet in the State of Georgia. This man asserts to the people of 
the country that when he was nominated ])y the republican party he 
was serenaded that night by the .soft and delightful music of tin pans, 
tin horns, and evervthiug that was calculated to be wholesome and 
pleasant to him in his dreams. We are told by him that at dili'erent 
precincts in his district negroes were refused the right to vote because 
they were too old, ;ind it was said they were too old under the law to 
vote. We are told by him that in divers and sundry instances men 
with their tax-receipts in their hands were refused the right to vote 



31 

at the polls. We are told by him that -when the colored j^eople were 
drawn up in line in front of the polls in order that they might under 
the law deposit their ballots, jiepper was thrown in their eyes, smoke 
in their faces, tobacco quids were thrown in their faces — every char- 
acter of aunoyance to these poor people was made use of to drive 
them away from the polls. Yet we are told here that the only friends 
they have in this country are to be found in the ranks of the demo- 
cratic party in the South ! 

Men may talk as they please about peace ; they may talk as they 
choose about rights guaranteed in the Constitution ; they may say 
what they please about the laws being faithfully and honestly admin- 
istered in those States ; but while men are deterred either by improper 
influences or brute force in this manner, it is not a community of 
law-abidiug citizens where equal riglits are protected and observed. 
While I aui on that point in reference to the State of Georgia, I 
deem it proper for me to call the attention of the Senate to a fact 
that has been brought to my notice, and a very singular one too. In 
courts of justice, under the rules of evidence l)y which men are tried 
and by which courts are governed and guided in the administration 
of justice l)etween man and man, circumstances are taken as testi- 
mony, when linked together, to prove the rights of parties or to prove 
the violation of law. I find pul)lished in one of the newspapers of 
the State of Georgia the votes cast at the last election by cougres- 
sioual districts. One of the Senators has taken the pains to compile 
the number of inhabitants in some of those districts, colored and 
white, and then to compare the votes, and let the circumstances 
speak for themselves. Let the facts tell their own tale as to whether 
men are deprived of their rights in that State or not. 
Statement shoivhirj tlie population and number of votes cast at the late elec- 
tion in the fourth congressional district of Georgia. 











= 














o 




3 


._ 














o 


o 




-3 












Count its. 


o 


S 


& 


c 




a 


a 








h 




P* 


r^ 






.^ 


o 


















^ 


r=l 


_2 




P 


M 


^ 


U 


Campbell 


392 




6,589 
10, 472 


2 .537 


Carroll 


1,010 


14 


1,' 309 


Chattahoochee 


200 




2,654 
7,856 


3,405 
8, 019 


Coweta 


1. 244 


1 


Douglass 


511 


1 


(*) 
5,791 
5 218 


(*) 
7,493 
2,648 
3 830 


Hanis 


HOT 


1 


Heard 


5T2 




Marion 


,"579 




4 169 


Meriwether 


1 109 




6,387 
7 441 


7.369 
9,220 
7,152 


Muscogee 


950 




Talbot 


a^4 




4', 761 


Tioup 


1,074 




6,408 


11 "-'4 






Total 


9,218 


17 


67, 746 


64 276 







* Xo such county nained in Census Report. 

I Avill take the fourth district of Georgia, copied frou] this paper 
publishing the returns of the ditierent counties in the various dis- 
tricts. The fourth congressional district of the State of Geors,ia is 



32 

composed of Campbell, Carroll, Chattahoochee, Coweta, Don^lass^ 
Harris, Heard, Marioa, Meriwether, Muscogee, Talbot, and Troup 
Counties. In these counties the white population is (i7,74(i ; the col- 
ored population is C)4,'27G — a difference of a little over 3,000 between 
the white and colored pojiulation. Estimating the voting i)opulati()n 
as one to seven, that would leave a difference of a few hundred on 
the side of the white population. We take it for granted at least 
that out of 64,276 colored people in a congressional district there were 
certainly some few' who would have voted the repul)lican ticket. Now, 
what was the vote in that congressional district last fall? The dem- 
ocratic vote was 9,218. That is tlie majority of the wliite votingpop- 
ulation of the district. What was the republican vote f Seventeen 
in all — all told — out of a population of 64,276 colored and some white 
voters of the republican party. In one county 14 republican votes, in 
one 1, in another 1. In eight counties, where there were thousands 
of colored people, not a solitary vote was cast for the republican 
party. I desire to know — I ask the question in all candor — can any 
man stand upon this door and tell methattlicrewerebutseveuteenmen 
out of a colored p(i])ulation of 64,00(1 tliat were able to vote the re- 
publican ticket ? If but 17 repuljlican votes were cast, what is the 
natural inference to be drawn from the facts and circumstances that 
surrounded those people at that time f There can be but one ex- 
l)lanation of it, and that is the secret, silent torture of a tin-eat against 
these people on acccuint of a desire to preserve their rights iind prop- 
erty. Tliey were afraid to exercise the right given to them by tlie 
Constitution and the laws of their own countiy. There is no otlier 
inference that can be drawn, there is none other that is fair or just 
in the premises ; and yet we an^ told day by day on this iloor that all 
is peace and harmony, that no man is molested there, that everything 
goes on in accordance with justice, in accordance with right, and in 
accordance with the laws of our country. 

I have the votes of somc^ other districts in the State of Georgia as 
compared witli this one that I liave just read. The eighth distiict in 
Georgia, out of a i)0})ulation almost e([ualto tlie one I have given, cast 
twelve votes for the republican ticket, several thousand for tlie oppo- 
site. Where, let me ask, were all tlie colored republicans of tiie 
eighth district of Georgia on tlu^ day of the (dection? Men may de- 
nounce the statement tliat I made here yesterday, but it jiroves its 
own truth l^y an examination of these returns. When we were told 
yesterday by a candidate that some of his voters were not permitted 
to vote, that some were denied on account of their age, that otlu'is 
were denied on account of their locality, that pepper was thrown in 
their eyes and smoke in their faces and they driven from post to pil- 
lar, the polls not opened till a late liour, when none but white ])eoi)le 
were jx'iiiiitted to vote, do we not know that all these tilings took 
])lace for th(^ jiurpose of deteriingthose men from the exercise of tliat 
boon wliich belongs to tlie American citizen, and that is tin; right to 
vote at an election ? Sir, I ask you what is citizenship in this coun- 
try if not the right of selecting l>y your ballot the men who sliall ex- 
ercisethe functions of office under the laws in this land. It tiiatriglit 
is denied, I ask you where is the great boast of American citizensliip 
ill tliis country? Once it wassaidthat tlie prou(h'st tiling tliatcoiild 
be uttered by a citizen of Eome was that he thanked his God tliat he 
was a Ivoiuau citizen. AVhy did iu^ do this? Because in those days 
the rights that Rome gave her citizens wen^ protected. For that rea- 
son the boast went forth of citizenship ; 'but in this country where we 
boast of American citizenship, 1 ask you wliat becomes of the boast if 



33 

the greatest right tliat inheres to the citizen under the Laws and 
Constitution of our country is denied ? What is there then for the 
citizen to boast of ? 

We are tohl, liowever, that in the State of Georgia there are no 
outbursts sliowiug vindictiveness of feeling, that there is nothing 
there from which you can draw tlie inference that there is any but 
the Ivindest feeling toward the people of the United States, both North 
and South, and toward the officials of the United States Government. 
I do not know why such statements should be made. I cannot imag- 
ine why men should assert such propositions on this floor when every 
day their own newspapers contradict such statements. In order for 
us to ascertain the facts as to whether the sentiment in that country 
is as described, I send to the Clerk's desk a newspaper published in 
Atlanta, the capital of the State of Georgia, where it is presumable 
at least that the papers are fair representatives of the sentiments of 
the State, and ask the Secretary to read first the marked editorial on 
the left, and then to read further as I shall suggest. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

The kadicai, rr,OT nEVELonxo.— The telesi-am sent by P. H. Shpridaii to tlie 
Secretary of War bears all the oviilence of being part of a ])lot hatched by the radi- 
cal-leaders at Washington to ^irovoke an armed uprisini; in the South. Slieridan 
deliberately proposes to punish tlu'. Irailers of the White Leagues by a military 
commission. Further on Sheridan deehiies that "it is i>ossilde. that if the Presi- 
dent v.ould issue his proclamation declaring them banditti, no further action need 
be taken except that which wouhl devolve upon me. " 

We now look for a pioclamation from Gr.iut doing as Sheridan siiggest.s. The 
.situation increases in gravity. Grant is evidently playing a desperate game. lie 
has sent .somebody to Louisiana " wlio will hurt." Now, let Grant declare O^den, 
Marr, and the rest banditti, and then we will see who is hurt. If any hanging or 
shooting is to be done, it is .just jiossible that a braggart aiul dirty tool of an upstart 
like Sheridan may ornament a lamp-post quite as rapidly as any White League 
"ringleader'' may grace agallows. 

Mr. LOGAN. Now let the Secretary read in the next column 
marked. 

The Secretary road as follows : 

The Loulsiana Infamy. — Like the liar that he is, when General Sheridan arrived 
in New Orleans he informed several gentlemen who called upon him that there wa.s 
no truth in the report which stat(!d tliat he was to tiiko command in Louisiana. Ho 
was merely, he said, on his way to Havana with a party of ladies. Our disiiatches 
this morning tell what he is doing in N<'W Orleans. Beaten in their consiuiiuty to 
defeat the public will, the radicals ai)])ealed to the Federal milit^iry autliorilies. 
There had not been any disturbance of any character. The Legislature had nu;t 
and organized by the election of Ex-Mayor Wiltz, of New Orleans, as tcmjjorary 
chairman. Swearing in the nitmibers began; the radicals withdrew; and shortly 
after a body of soldiers entered the chamber, reinstated the radical clerk, and vir- 
tually bndvc iij) the assembly. 

Here Sheridan steps in witli another inf.amous lie on his lips. Tie telegr.aphs the 
Secretai-y of War that " he regrets to announce a spirit of defiance of all lawful 
authoritj', .and an insecurity of life." At t his writing we have heard nothing f uither, 
but we presume that Ni:w Orleans is now virtually under martial law, and that the 
work ot infamy has been comiiletcd. 

And yet we hope to hear a ditl'erent report. There are twenty-five thousand 
able-bodied white men in New Orleans. In the same city there are twenty-five hnn- 
<!red Federal soldiers. Admitting that every Federal soldier would consent to tire 
on the peoi)le, (liey are no match for the citizens. Wo write it deliberately, that 
we hope the disjiatcluvs will bring us news before wo go to ))ress that the streets of 
New Orleans aie barricaded, and that twenty-five thousand freemen are cru,'<hing 
to atoms Sheridan and his horde. There is not a single feeling of animosity in our 
hi^arts against the United States as wo write. All that we st^e is the act of infamy, 
by means of which the people of Louisiana are to be delivered over to scouudrele 
and desi)ots. 

Again and again do we reiterate the hope that the citizens of New Orleans will 
take up the gage of battle so iusolciitly thrown down to them. Since blood must 
flow in defen.se of their liberties, then let the streets of the Crescent ("ity again be 
the scene of the conllict of patriots a;;aiu8t a most infamous usnrpation. " We pray 

3 E 



34 

it — i)r;iT it. as if to God — that thero lias been no liositating, no shriukinc;. "Who it 
Giant, tli:it he should seek to act the part of master of the South ? Who is Sh(<ri- 
dan, tlir.t he sliouhl attempt to crush the white people of Louisiana? Is it not 
tinit> that tliis tyranny be hroniiht to a sudih'n and, if it must be so, a bloody end ? 
Can the people of tht' Xorth biaiue Louisiaua, if in this moment she rises grandly 
in arms, and hurls otl'thr fcttrrs willi which she is about to be bound 'I 

Let the issue bo met in Louisiana, and (lie question of the rights of the Southern 
States be tiually settled. We are heartily tired of tho game that is being ])layed in 
the South. If there ever will be a time, for the innplo of New Orleans to brgin 
fighting in earntvst, that time is now. If evcrnisislauee to Federal usurpation was 
.iustilialde, it is now. If the time is evi>r to eome for twenty-live thousand white 
men to demonstrate their strength, that lime is now come. 

Wi> therefore await the aixival of telegrams informing us that the blow has been 
struck in earnest. 

If President Grant is anxious to provoke a civil war, as he is said to be, it is, per- 
haps, best to accommodate him at <mc.o. We never will have a better reason for 
an uprising than exists in New Orh'ans at present. Kothing that Grant may do 
can more thoroughly unite the freemen of the entire United States than what his 
tool, Sheridan, has .just done in New Orleans. The time for argumejit, for appeals, 
for remonstrance, is past. Barricades ought to be the fashion now, with armed 
men behind them. 

Mr. GORDON. Will tbo Senator allow me to make just one re- 
mark! I will uot detain bim more tliau a moment. 

Mr. LOGAN. Very well, sir. 

Mr. GORDON. I only want to say tliat I have no doubt tbo editor 
of that paper was sincere in all be said ; I have no doubt be reflected 
the sentiments of bis own beart ; but I know full well tbat be did not 
reflect tbo opinions of tbo people of Georgia; be did not reflect tbe 
sentiments of tbo democratic party of Georgia. He does not pretend 
to belong to tbe organization of tbe democratic j)arty of Georgia. He 
does not run any paper wbicb claims allegiance to tbe democratic 
party of Georgia. Ho claims to run an independent paper, and be 
does run an independent paper. He neitber supported tbe demo- 
cratic nominee in tbo district in wbicb bo lives, nor did be sui)port 
tbe democratic nominees in otlier districts. On tbe contrary, be stip- 
ported tbe oj)])osition in tbe district just above tbe district in which 
lie and I both live. 

Now, sir, I wish to have read, if tbe Senator will allow me, ,i tele- 
gram from tbe governor of my State, wlio is a democrat and a mem- 
ber of the party. This gentleman who is tbe editor of that paper I 
have no doubt is a democrat. He votes, when be does vote, for the 
democratio- party ; but his paper disclaims belonging to any organi- 
zation, and bo runs on an inde];)endent scbedttlo, responsible for his 
own utterances, and nobody responsible for them but himself. 

Mr. LOGAN. I will say to tbo Senator tbat I do not give way to 
have tbat telegram read as part of my argument by any mean,s. I 
will proceed. Ho will have ample opportunity to retid tbe telegram 
hereafter. 

He says that this man no doubt is a democrat. I do not say tbat 
the whole people of Georgia entertain tbe same sentiment.s. I have 
not said so at tiny time ; but I read these articles in this paper to show 
Ibat some ]iortiou of tbo people of tbat State do entertain these sen- 
timents. I have read all tbat I have read to show tbe circumstances 
and to show the character of feeling that there is all over tbat coun- 
tiy. Now, I would ask any Senator on this floor, do not tbe demo- 
cratic papers all over tbe South announce nearly the same ])roposi- 
tion ? Did not the democratic })apers till over the South indorse Penn's 
revolution against Governor Kellogg ? Do not the democratic papers 
of the South today defy the powers of this country in reference to 
tbo action in Louisiana ? If they do not, 1 have failed to see one that 
has taken a dillerent course. TJiis one, the Scnatorsays, is an indepoud- 



35 

cnfc paper; but no doubt, he says, the editor is a. democrat. It is 
immaterial to me whether lie be a democrat or an inde)iendeut, or 
Avhat he may. He is speaking the sentiment of his locality ; or, at 
least, he pretends to represent the sentiment of his locality. First, 
he thinks it would be well to hang Sheridan to a lamp-post. I have 
no doubt that a majority of the democrats in the South in 1863 
believed just the same thing, that it would have been well to hang 
Sheridan ; and I have no doubt they believe it now. 

But in the conclusion of the .second article what does this paper 
say ? I care not whether it is the sentiment of Georgia or not ; what 
I am speaking to is the impression that is being made upon the peo- 
ple of the State of Louisiana. What eft'ect do such articles have upon 
the twenty-five thousand ])eople in Louisiana wlio are organized as a 
White League, when they are told by the public press of the South 
that it is their duty to barricade the streets of New Orleans; that it 
is their duty to make war upon tlie troops of the United States Gov- 
ernment, for the purpose of overturning that State government ; that 
it is their duty to let blood How in the streets of New Orleans, and 
that, if ever the time has come for that to be done, the time is now? 
I use it for the purpose of showing that not only tlie speeches of the 
opposition but the newspai)ersteiul to work excitement in the minds 
of those people, to plunge them into bloody revolution, so that then 
they may be supported by those who stand by them, and, in that 
way, the country involved in war again. That is the reason why I 
appealed to these suggestions, to show the effect that is being had and 
the purposes that these men have in view to stimulate that popula- 
tion which they know is a population almost like a powder-magazine. 

If the people of the South and the democrats of the North will but 
remember for a moment the character of the people of Louisiana, 
without speaking of them as disreputable people they must know 
that the white portion of Louisiana, the natives of that State, are an 
excitable people. We know they are an irritable peo])le. We know 
that the Creole population is a revolutionary people. Wherever they 
maybe found, in Louisiana or elsewhere, they are a revolutionary 
people. It is well known if any one will examine the history of that 
kind of population that this is tlie fact. They being that class of 
people are as ready to revolutionize against one government as they 
are against anotlier, unless it is a government that tliey control. 
They are of tliat class of people who themselves must coutn)!, whether 
in the minority or majority, or else they arc in favor of revolution 
against the existing "powers that be." Upon a class of i)eo])lo so 
inllammable as these people in Louisiana are, I ask wliat tlie etlcct of 
these editorials and speeches in the same line must be ■? Naught 
but to intlanio, naught but to excite, and naught but to incite tiiem 
to bloody deeds of revolution against the country whicii r(!volution 
might become wide-spread and tiiis country all be involved in ruin. 
It is against these things that I appeal to tlie country; it is against 
these things that I am now sjieaking to the people. 

But, sir, passing from the State of Georgia, and I am sure I have 
said as little about that State and the people of North Carolina as I 
could under the circumstances and facts, I desire now to call the 
attention of the American Senate to another State, and that is the 
State of Alaliama. I presume the State of Alabama has been included 
in the n m:irk8of Senatois here when they have been s))eaking of the 
peaceful and orderly manner of the people of the South. The other 
day there was read from a newspaper on the other side of the Cham- 
ber evidence of this character in reference to the State of Alabama, 



36 

that in one county sonic eleven colored people hud hccn indicted for 
ninrdiT, the murder of colored men. That was cited to show tliat the 
murders perpetrated in that State were muiders perpetrated hy col- 
ored men on colored men. I took a dift'ercnt view of tiiat testimony 
Avhich was road in the Senate Chamher, although I remained silent. 
It proved to mo this aiul nothing nuiro, that when a colored man com- 
mitted an oft'enso he was indicted and punished for it; hut when a 
white man committed an offense ho went scot-free. That was tho 
conclusion I formed in reference to this evidence. When a colored 
man violates the law he must be punished. " Why not," say men of 
these notions, "why not punish tho colored man for murder?" He 
ougiit to be ; but when I ask yon why not jtunish the white man for 
murder as well f tlie dittereuco is this : In tlie North we respect the 
lives of all men, «H)lored or white, and if a man commits murder we 
do not ask tlie complexion of his victim, but we ask the question of 
his justitication or excuse. 

Tlie Senator from Maryland said in his speech " there are disturb- 
ances in tho South, but tlioro have been murders in tho Nortli, out- 
rages in the North." I admit it. I admit there are murders com- 
mitted in tlio North and robberies committed in every northern city; 
but when I admit that, I add that wo punish our murderers in the 
North ; wo send them to tho penitentiary vv liang them. Several 
men have ))een hanged in the last few months in the Northern States 
for murder. White men and women are in the State prison for mur- 
der to-day. In the Northern States we call murder, murder. In tho 
Northern States, when a man commits murder,we call him a murderer, 
and wo punish him for that oft'enso. Tho ditterence is tliat wo hang 
our murderers or we send them to the penitentiary and call them 
murderers, and in the South you do not even indict them, but speak 
of them as men rising up in defenso of their liberties. 

Before tho abolition of slavery who ever heard of a white man 
being punished for shooting a negro? Nobody. If ho shot a negro 
down ho would bo liable to' an action of trespass for tlie amount the 
negro was worth, the same as if tho man liad shot a horse. lie jiaid 
tho owner of t he negro his value, and that ended it. The habit grow 
so strong that men down there think they have the same right now 
to murder negroes tliat they thought they had then. The only dif- 
ference is t»bat they had to pay for them then, and now they do not. 

Mr. MEKKIMON. May I iutorrupt the Senator for a moment ? 

Mr. LOGAN. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ISIERKIMON. In my State six months ago two wliite men wore 
condemned ti> death for killing a negro, and a republican governor 
commuted the sentence to imprisonment for life in the penitentiary. 
Tliere is one case in my own town. There are other cases in my State. 

Mr. TjOG AN. That' is one case. I am very glad to hear of that. 
It is the iirst on{>, <'ver I did hear of. [ Laughter. ] I Avill give you 
cases enough bid'ore I am done where they have not been punished 
or attciiipt(^d to be imnished. 

Hut, sir, 1 was si)eaking of including Alabama in this category of 
States where, the jieople are so subservient to the rules and the deco- 
rum of society and tho laws of the land. Is Alabama a peaceable 
State — Alabama with a democratic governor if O, says my friend 
from Maryland, give the democrats contnd, and you will liavo peace. 
You have a democratic governor in Alabama; Ahibaiua is a demo- 
cratic State. Now, let us see how (piiet it is down there. 

For th(i i(ur|)os(^ of satisfying my friends on tho other side of the 
("liamlier as to tlie condition of things in Alabama :us to the security 



37 

of life and property, I will Lavo read a letter i)iiblished in an Ala- 
bama paper from jndge Keils. Judye Keils is a man of respecta- 
bility, judge of a court in Alaljania. 1 have met him frequently my- 
self, i recognize him as a gentleman. He is an old man, and hero 
is his letter containing just what ho told mo out of his own mouth 
the other night at myTiouse. I ask that it be read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows: 

EuFALi, Alabama, November 6, 1874. 
Editor Journal: 

I tele<ri'aphed you last uiglit that my son 'Willie was dead. Tins you must know 
is almost overwhelming nio; I am in poor condition to write. Just at dark, before 
the counting of votes had commenced at Spring Hill, the crowd rushed into the 
room and commenced firing at me. When they entered I stepped to the end of the 
counter, (the election was liehl in an old store.) pulling AVillie behind me to pre- 
vent him being shot. Several shots were fired at me, when the lamp was smashed. 
All was dark then, and Willie and myself stepped behind the counterand sat down 
under it. A vigorous firing then co'iiimenceil at the end of the counter, which I 
thought at the instant were entering the counter and doing no damage. It was at 
this time Willie was shot, one ball entering the bowels and the other three enter- 
ing the right thigh. "Willie did not flinch or complain, though his hand was on my 
shoulder while he was being nmrdered, so that I knew nothing of it till after 
those (or the one) who murdered him had moved off. If I liad known he was being- 
shot I could easily have killed the fellow ; but as soon as he moved oft' Willie said 
to me, " Pa, let us try to get out; I am .shot to pieces." This was the first intima- 
tion I had that he was shot. Then I told him to be quiet a little longer. But just 
then several gentlemen ru.shed to me and assured me they would protect me, and 
they did. Then I missed Willie's hand fiom my shoulder, felt for him in the dark, 
but could not find him. As he (Willie) told me afterward, some demou seized him 
by the leg drauired liim on the floor, and kicked him. There was such firing and 
j-'ells that I heard ndthiu;; of this brutal dragging and kicking at that time. The 
mob was yelling "Kill him," " Shoot him," " D— n him," " Kill him," &c. Oua or 
two of those who saved me (they weio of the better class of democrats) went to .see 
after "Willie, found him, and carried him away with the assistance of some colored 
men. I found him at Ur. Davie's, near by, to which place I was guarded a few 
minutes after. He, myself, and wife and daughter, who went to Spring Hill at 
once, as soon as they could get there, were all treated well at Dr. D.'s and by the 
neighbors. 

This was a put upjob to destroy the ballot-box, in which there was four hundred 
and fifty or five huudrcd republican majority, and murder me. And their treat- 
ment in dragging and kicking Willie ;viil telliug him as they did, '-God d — n yon, 
get out of here," shows that they were (piito as willing to kill him as me, because 
they knew it was not me they were kicking and dragging, although it was dark iu 
the room. 

"Willie was in jiis .seventeenth year, and abetter, high-toned, more honorable boy 
never lived, I am sure. He did no one any harm. He said to me often during the 
canvass that he knew I was in danger, and wanted to go with me to republican 
meetings, and he went witli mo to most of them. Then he wanted to go witli me to 
Spring Hill to the election, as ho did. "U^hen .some firing was done out in the crowd, 
and he thought I was in danger inside the room, he said he wanted to come in. The 
managers consented, and this is why ho was in there. 

1 feel that I can never get over his death. 
Yours truly, 

E. M. KEILS. 

Mr. IvOGAN. Thi.s man Judge Keils stated to me— and doubtless 
he stated the trnth — tliat ho left his own voting place bccau.se his 
life was not secure at that poll and went to Spring Hill, tor tho 
reason that there was a large majority of republican voters th(!re,so 
that ho might bo secure. At his own place his life liad b(>eu threat- 
ened, a riot had taken place, and several colored men had been killed 
that day. But at Spring Hill there were four hundred and lifty ma- 
jority of republican voters, ^irincipally colored men. After the voting 
was all over Judge Kcils undci'took to aid or assist, not by forc(;, 1 uti 
in ])rotectiou of the ballot-box, to watch it, to see that it should 
not be seized andstulhid. These men came ui)ou him where he was, 
fired at him, and murdered hi.s son. For Avh.it olfense ? For no 
offense in the world except that he was a republican and desired that 



38 

tho votesof this four luindred and fifty majority of colored men sliould 
be counted tlio same as the votes of auybocly else. Yet we are told all 
is peace! Sir, when yon talk about mnrdtu's in the North, let me say 
we have no such murders as these. Men there exercise their rights of 
the elective franchise without beinf;^ murdered. There may be frauds, 
but men are not murdered for political opinions. But in Alabama, 
.'i democratic State, tho .judge of a court on an election day, desiring 
the votes to be counted honestly, is tired on and his son murdered by 
a mob. Accidentally they did not murder him, but murdered his 
son, only seventeen years old, who was holding on to his father's 
shoulders in the dark at the time he w;is riddled with bullets. And 
we are told these are law-abiding, patriotic people ! For this otlensc 
nobody was even arrested. 

I could give a number of other cases in that State. I do not desire 
to go through all the statements I have in n^ference to these different 
States. It would take me the rest of this day. Having occuj)ied 
nearly all of yesterday, I have not the time nor have I the ]>hysical 
endurance to stand it. I only iustauce a few cases in the ditferent 
States as I pass along to show the feelings of the people there, and 
that they are not exactly as they have been stated to us. Here is 
from Alabama a statement of an occurrence of a most recent character. 
I will read it : 

Kobert Kccd, a moruber of the General Assembly of Alabama from Sumpter, 
was called to Mobile last week as a witness before the grand jury of the United 
States court. 

This was a member of the Legislature of that State. 

After he was discharged, he went into tho city to malro some purchases, when ho 
was set upon by three or four white-leaguers of Mobile, who followed him into a 
store, where the leader asked his name and struck him over the head with a stick, 
and immediately ^listols were drawn, but Reed succeeded in makiiv^ his escape for 
protection to tlio United States court-room ? It is undcrstixid tliat thiiscassunltins 
lieed were of the class of citizens of Mobile whofurnisluMl the Sunitir County inis- 
oners with icfifslnnents while in jail, .and their antipathy may liave been occasioned 
by the bilii'f tliatlio w,as in some way connected with tliat findinj: of a true bill 
against tliose jiarties. This assault was made in the b oad dayliglit. and the par- 
ties are well known in that city ; but at last acc(Mint8 no arrests had been made. 
Perhaps the only regret felt is that Reed was not killed, as it is evident that that 
was their purpose. Yet it is pretended that Iilobile is a law-abiding city ! 

There a member of the Legislature of what you call a sovereign 
State goes to the United States court on a summons to apjtear as a 
witness beiure tho grand jury to testify, and the very uu)uu'nt ho 
leaves the court-room, having testified, he is assailed by your White 
League ruffians and his life attempted to be taken ; atul you call these 
law-abiding citizens! A man cannot even testify against your mur- 
derers and your outlaws in your States. Every day iha question is 
put to us " You have the courts, why do you not i)unish these men 1" 
Here is the n^ason why they are not punislunl : If a witness goes, no 
matter who, to testify against these outrages before a grand jury, his 
life is not safe ior a solitary uu>meut ; au(l yet we are told " You have 
the courts, and why doyou not execute the law." Why, sir, is it not 
cool for any man on this iloor to talk about the execution of law" and 
put it to us " you have the courts and why do you not do it," when 
neither eouit nor jury nor witness is safe for a monu'ut in his life 
ami his rights under the laws of this land f I suppose 1 miglit be 
asked the (luestiou why could not a man be ]>unished for treason in 
one of these Southern States during tiie southern rebellion. It is 
obvious to everybody. Is there any man so great a fool as not to 
know that he could not have ecmvicted one of them before a jury or 
a court either; that the attempt would have been followed by assas- 



39 

sination ; that you could not convict a man where they were all in 
sympathy with one another 1 Do my fi-iends on the other side of the 
Chamber, when they taunt U8 with the fact that we have the courts, 
expect that we can exercise the jurisdiction of the courts or bring 
men to trial when every man almost of their side is in sympathy with 
the men who perpetrate the Avrongs against the law and by whom the 
Avrong-doer must be tried ? Yet wo are asked " Why do you not try 
them 1" It would be like trying a Morman for having seventeen 
wives before a jury each member of which had tive wives ! [Laugh- 
ter.] 

I now Avish to quote from the President's message in reference to 
the outrage complained of as having been perpetrated against the 
Legislature of Louisiana, which I had not on yesterday an ojiportu- 
nity of doing. The President says : 

Eespecting the alleged interference by the military ^vith the organization of tho 
Legislature of Louisiana ou the 4tli instant, I have no knowledge or information 
which has not been received by mo since that time and published. My tirstinfoi'- 
mation was from the papers of the luorniug of the 5th of January. I did not know 
that any snch thing was anticipated, and no orders nor suggestions wei'e ever given 
to any militarj- officer in that State upon that subject prior to the occuirenco. I 
am well aware that any military interference by theofficers or troops of the United 
Stales with the org.auization of the State Legislature or any of its proceedings, or 
with any civil department of the government, is repugnant to our ideas of govern- 
ment. T can conceive of no case, not involving rebellion or insurrection, where 
such intei-ference by authority of tho General Government ought to be permitted 
or can be justified. But there are circumstances connected with the late legisla- 
tive imbroglio in Louisiana which seem to exemj)t the niilitaiy from any iuteu- 1 
tioual wrong in th.'it matter. Knowing that they had l)een iihued in Louisiana to 
prevent domestic violence and aid in the enforcement of the State laws, theofficers 
and troops of tho United States may well have supposed that it was their duty to 
act when called upon bj- the governor for that purpose. 

Again, I desire to read another paragraph from the President's mes- 
sage for the same purpose that the other was read : 

Nobody was disturbed by the military who had a legal right ,at that time to 
occupy a seat in the Legislature. Tliat the democratic minority of the house under- 
took to seize its organization by fraud and violence: that in this attempt they 
trampled iinder foot law; that they undci'took to make persons not returned a.s 
elected members, .so as to create a nia jority ; that they acted under a i)reconcerted 
plan, and under fa].--e pretenses introduced into the h.ill a body of men to sup])ort 
their pretensions by force, if necessary, and that contiicl, disorder, and riotous pro- 
ceedings followed, are facts that seem to be well establislied ; and lain credibly 
informed that these violent proceedings wore a part of a premeditated plan to have 
the house organized in this way, recognize what has been called the McEnery 
simate, then to depose Governor Kellogg, and so revolutionize the State govern- 
ment. 

I have read these paragra])hs only to bo placed in my remarks. I 
now desire to call tho attention of the Senate in the same connection 
to certain dispatclics that api)ear with the President's message, which 
are now ofiicial documents before tho cotmtry. Among these di.s- 
patches is the following from the governor, William P. Kellogg, to tho 
Attorney-General of the United .States at Wa,shington, September 1, 
1874 : 

Telegrai)hed you last night rejzarding Coushatta affiiir to Long Branch, care of 
President. If you have not left Wa.shington, please direct operator at Long Branch 
to repeat. Further information makes tlie allair worse even than tir.st reported. 
The six white men killed were all of txmnl character — planters and business men 
but four of them were northern republicans. 

I read this dispatch in support of Avhat I stated yesterday, that 
these men at Coushatta wore iiulustrious, energetic citizens, attend- 
ing to their own l)nsiucss at the time they were taken out and mur- 
dered. 

In further j'.mtilication of what has been said, of what has been 



40 

<loue, and of w bat may hereafter be done, and in support of wbat we 
have said on this lioor in reference to tbo ontrages of tbe Soutb, I 
ask tbe reading of an ot'licial document bere that I presume no one 
■will dispute. Wo bave been told, and rigbt bere I want to put it 
back to tbo Senator from Maryland [Mr. Hamilton] and to the 
Senator from Delaware, [Mr. Saulsijuuy,] for if be will allow mo to 
quote from tbe evidence of an old Delawarean once bere in tbe Sen- 
ate Chamber, " tbo whole eyes of Delaware are upon him." Ho said 
" this outrage business bad performed its office." So did the Senator 
from Maryland. Ho laughed at the idea of these outrages being 
talked about or used any more ; tbe thing bad played its part — had 
become stale. Sir, do murders become stale; does violation of hiw 
become stale ; does treason against the Goveniment become stale ; 
does rebellion against a State become stale ; do robbery, piracy, and 
blood-letting become stale in this country ? Is it the fact to-day that 
this thing has become so stale that murder can go on day after day , 
and scores of men bo slaughtered as the pigs in a pen that are fat- 
!)ened for that purpose, and we to be told these stories have become 
stale, these stories are played out ? Tbe man who can intimate that 
murders shall not be spoken of because they are so frequent, and that 
because of their frequency they become stale, that, man but encour- 
ages mnider. Murders stale! Yes, they bave been perpetrated in 
such a horrible, audacious, outrageous, and damnable manner by 
your Ku-Klux and White Leagues of the South that tbe stench of 
outrage and nnirder and perjury goes to heaven and cries for 
revenge for the lives of these innocent victims. "Vengeance is 
mine ; I will repay, saitb tbe Lord," and not you. Tbo Judge of all 
good and evil, the Judge of tbe world, the great Judge that decides 
by the scales of justice and weighs the right and wrong, will yet 
judge of these offenses and of the men who encourage them, of the 
men who perpetrate them, of the men who cover up their bloody and 
damnable crimes, and that judgment, when it comes, will bo one of 
terror in its effect. I ask for the reading of tbe dispatch from Louisi- 
ana which I send to tbe desk. 
The Secretary read as follows : 

[Telegram,] 

New Oklkans, January 10, 187,')— 11. ."JO j). in. 
Hon. "W. W. BRi.KNAr, 

Secretary of War, Washiiigton, D. C. : 

Since tin; year 18C6 nearly tliirty-five hundred jier.sons, a great majority of wliom 
were colored men, liave been killed and wounded in this State. In 1868 the official 
record .shows that ciL'hteen hu]idre<l and eijihtyi'oui- were killed and wounded. 
From ISliS to the iiresent tinu^ no official investi;iation has hoeu made, and the civil 
authorities, in all hut a lew eases, have been unable to aircst, convict, and punish 
perpi-tratois. Consequently there are no correct reeord.s to be consulted for infor- 
mation. There is ample evidence, however, to show that more than twelve hun- 
dred persons have been killed and wounded durini; tliis time on account of their 
polilicMl sentnnents. lYijihtful massacres have occurred in thep.arishesof B(issi(>r 
Caddo, (jilMhoula, Saint Bernard. Saint J,andry, Grant, and Orleans. The sreneral 
chaiiK ler ol the massacres in the above-namod' parishes is so well known that it is 
Tinneeessiirv to describe them. 

Tlie isolated cases can best be illustrated by the followin;: in.stancos, which T 
take from a mass of evidence now lying before nie of men killed on account of 
their political principles: In Natchitoches Parish the number of isolated cases 
reported is thirty-three; in the parish of Bienville the number of men killed i.s 
thirty: in Bed Biver Parish the isolated cases of men killed is thirty-four; in 
AVinn Parish th(< luimber of isolated cases where men were killed is lifteen ; in 
Jack.son I'aiish the number killed is twenty; and in (';itahoula Parish the number 
of isohited casis icported wliero men were"kille(l is hftv ; and most of the country 
parishes throu-boul the State will show a corresijoudiu;: state of aft'airs. Tho fol- 
lowiujr Rtati^meiits will illustrate the character and kind of these outrages: 

On the 30th of August, 1874, in Bed River Parish, si.\ State and parish officers, 



41 

naincd Twitcliell, Divers, Holland, Howell, Edgoi'ton, and "VTillis, were taken, to- 
gether ■with four negroes, under guard to be carried out of the State, and were de- 
liberatelj' murdered on the 29th of Avigust, 1674. The "White League tried, sen- 
tenced, and hung two negroes on the 28th of August, 1874. Three negroes were 
shot and killed at Brownsville, just before the arrival of the United States troops 
in this parish. Two white-leaguers rode up to a nemo cabin and called for a 
drink of water. When the old colored man turned to draw it, they shot him in the 
back and killed him. The courts were all broken up in this district, and the dis- 
trict judge driven out. 

In the parish of Caddo, prior to the arrival of the United States troops, all of the 
officers at Shreveport were compelled to abdicate by the AV hite League, which 
took pnssossin of the place. Among those obliged to abdicate were Walsh, the 
mayor. KaiJirs, tlic .sluritl', Wheatoii, clerk of the court, Durant, the recorder, and 
Ferguson and liiiifni, adniiuistTators. Two colored men, who had given evidence 
in regard to frauds committed in the pari.sh, were compelled to flee for their lives, 
and reached this city last niglit, having been smuggled thniugh in a cargo of cotton. 

In the i)urish of I'.ossier the White League have attempted to force the abdica- 
tion of .Tudge IJakir, the Uiiite(l States commissioner and iiari.sh judge, together 
with O'Neal, tlie sherilt, and Walker, tlie clerk of tlio court; and they have com- 
jielled the, ]iarish and district courts to suspend operations. Judge Baker states 
that the white-leaguers notitied hiui several times that if ho became a candidate 
on the republican ticket, or if he attempted to organize the republican party, he 
ehould not live until election. 

They also tried to intimidate him through his family by making the same threats 
to his wife, and when told by him thai he "was a IlnitedStates commissioner they 
notified him not to attempt to exercise t lie functions of his olHce. In but few of the 
country parishes can it bo truly said tliat the law is pioperly enforced, and in 
some of the paiishes the judges have not been able to hold court for the past two 
years. Human life in this State is held so cheaply that when men are killed on 
account of political opinions, the murderers are regarded rather as heroes than as 
criminals in the localities where they reside, and by the White League and their 
supporters. 

An illustratian of the ostracism that prevails in the State maybe found in a roso 
Intion of a Wliito League dub in tlie parish of I)e Soto, which states, " That they 
pledge themselves under (no?) circumstaui'es after the coming election, to employ, 
rent land to, or in any other manner give aid. comfort, or credit, to any man, whiite 
or black, who votes against the nominees of the wliite man's party." Safety for 
individuals who express their opinion in the isolated portions of this State has 
existed only when that opinion was in favor of the princi])!i-s .and party supported 
by the Ku-ivlnx and White Leagueor/unizations. Only yesterilay Judge Myers, 
the jiaiisli judge of the parish of Natcliiloches, called on me upon liis arrival in this 
city, and slated tliat in order to reach here alive he was obliginl to leave his home 
by stealth, and attei' niglitfall, and make his way to Little Kock, Arkansas, and 
come to tills city liy way of Memphis. 

He further states that wliile his father was l.ying at tlie point of death in the 
same village, ho was unable to \isit liiiu for fear of assassination, and yet ho is a 
native of the parish, and proscribed for his jiolitic.al sentiments only. It is more 
than probable that if bad government has existed in this State it i.s" the result of 
the armed organizations, wliiidi have now ciystalli/.ed into what is called the White 
League ; instead of liail government develojiing them, they liavo by their terrorism 
prevented to a considerable extent the collection of taxes, tlio holding of conrt.1, 
the punislmient of ei imiiials, and vitiated public sentiment by familiariziug it with 
the scenes above described. I am now engaged in comj)iling evidence for a de- 
tailed report upon tlie above subj<'ct, but it. will be some lime btd'ore I can obtain 
all tlie reiiuisite data to cover the cases that have occurred lliroughoiit the State. 
I will also report in duo time ujion tlie same subject in tlu' Slatis of Arkansas and 
Mississippi. 

P. ir. SHKRIDAN. 
Lieutcna n t- General. 

Mr. LOGAN. Now, Mr. Prosidciit 

Mr. GORDON. I do not want to interi'ui)t tlic .Senator. I under- 
stand, liowever, tliat there was a remark made by Iiiin while I w;xs 
out with reference to one district in Georgia. If he will permit mo, 
I jn.st want to .state that fh(>re. wa.s no occasion for the ca.stingof any 
rejiulilican votes in that district at all. There was no candidate to 
cast them for, and therefore it was not neces.sary. 

Mr. LOGAN. No candidate for Congress? 

Mr. GORDON. Not in the district to which the Senator referred, 
where there were only eighteen rcimhlican votes cast, as I under- 
stand he said. 



42 

Mr. LOGAN. Docs tbe Senator say that there was no candidate f 

Mr. GORDON. There was no republican candidate at all iu the 
district. It was carried before by a very large majority'. There was 
but one candidate and he was a democrat. 

Mr. LOGAN. Which district was that ? 

Mr. GORDON. The district to which I understand the Senator 
referred, of which II. II. Harris is the Representative. 

Mr. LOGAN. The fourth and the eighth ? 

Mr. GORDON. The fourth is the district I refer to. 

Mr. LOGAN. How about tbe eighth ? 

Mr. GORDON. In the eighth there was no candidate at all except 
Hon. Alf.xandkr H. Stephens. 

Mr. LOGAN. None at all ? 

Mr. GORDON. None at all. 

Mr. LOGAN. Were there no county candidates ? 

Mr. GORDON. If the Senator will allow me, I will state that the 
county candidates had been elected at a previous election. It was 
a congressional election entirely in our State in November. 

Mr. LOGAN. I only give the facts as they are of record, and of 
course there may be an exception which I know nothing about. I 
only take that from the record as I find it. I am always ready to bo 
corrected if I am wrong in reference to anything, and I am glad to 
give the Senator the benefit of his correction, and that part of the 
statement was made under a misapprehension of the facts. 

Now, Mr. President, I want to ask candid, honest, fair-minded men, 
after reading this report of General STieridan showing the murder, 
not for gain, not for plunder, but for political opinions in the last 
few years of thirty-live hundred persons in the State of Louisiana, 
all of them republicans, not one of them a democrat — I want to ask 
if they can stand hero before this country and defend the democratic 
party of Louisiana ? I put this riuestiou to them for they have been 
here for days crying againstthe wrongs upon the democracy of Louisi- 
ana. I want any one of them to tell me if he is prejiared to defend 
the democracy of Louisiana. What is your democracy of Louisiana? 
You are excited, your extreme wrath is aroused at General Sheri- 
dan because he called your White Leagues down there "banditti." 
I ask you if the murder of thirty-five hundred men in a short time 
for political pnri)oses by a band of men banded together for the pur- 
pose of nmrder does not make them banditti, what it does make 
them? Does it make them democrats'? It certainly does not make 
them republicans. Does is make them honest men'? It certainly 
does not. Does it make them law-abiding men? It certainly does 
not. Does it make them peaceable citizens? It certainly docs not. 
But what does it make ? A band of men banded together and per- 
I)etrating murder in their own State? Webster says a baiulit is "a 
lawless or desperate fellow; a robber ; a brigand," and "banditti" 
are men bandcul together fur ])lunder and nunder; and what are your 
W^hite Leagues banded together for if the result proves that they 
are banded together fornnirdcr for ])olitical purposes? 

O, what a crime it was iu Sheridan to say that these men were 
banditti! He is a Avretch. Frcmi the papers he ought to be hanged 
to a lamp-post; from the Senators Ihj is not tit to breathe the free air 
of heaven or of this free Republic ; but your murderers of thirty-fivo 
hundred pcoijlc for political offenses arc fit to breathe the air of this 
country and are defended on this floor ti)-day, and they are defended 
here by the democrat ic party, and you cannot avoid or escape the pro- 
position. You have denounced republicans for trying to keep the 



43 

peace iu Louisiana; you have (Teiionnced tlie Aduiinistration for try- 
ing tosu])iues8 bloodshed in Louisiana ; you have denounced allforthe 
same purpose ; but not one word has falleu from the lii)s of a soli- 
tary democratic Senator denouncing these wholesale murders in 
Louisiana. You have said, "I am sorry these things are done," l)ut 
you have defended the White Leagues; you have defended Penn ; you 
have defended rebellion ; and you stand here to-day the apologists 
of murder, of rebellion, and of treason in that State. 

I want to ask the judgment of an honest country, I want to ask 
the judgment of the moral sentiments of the law-abiding people of 
this grand and glorious Republic to tell me whether men shall 
murder by the score, whether men shall trample the law under foot, 
whether men shall force judges to resign, whether men shall force 
jirosecuting attorneys to resign, whether men shall take live oilficers 
of a State out and hang or shoot them if they attempt to exercise the 
functions of their oftice, whether men shall terrify the voters and 
office-holders of a State, whether men shall undertake in violation 
of law to organize a Legislature for revolutionary purposes, for the 
purpose of putting a governor in possession and taking possession of 
the State and then ask the democracy to stand by them — I appeal to 
the honest judgment of the people of this land and ask them to res- 
pond whether this was not an excusable case when tliis man used 
the Army to protect the life of that State and to preserve the peace 
of that people 1 Sir, the man who Avill not use all the means in his 
power to preserve the nationality, the integrity of this Government, 
the integrity of a State or the peace and happiness of a people, is not 
fit to govern, he is not fit to hold jjosition in this or any other civil- 
ized age. 

Does liberty mean wholesale slaughter '? Does republican govern- 
ment mean tyranny and oppression of its citizens ? Docs an intelli- 
gent and enlightened age of civilization mean murder and pillage^ 
bloodshed at the hands of Ku-Klux or White Leagues or anybody 
else, and if any one attempts to put it down, attempts to reorganize 
and pi'oduce order where chaos and confusion have reigned, they are 
to be denounced as tyrants, as oppressors, and as acting against 
republican institutions ? I say then the happy days of this Eejiublic 
are gone. When we fail to see that republicanism means notliing, 
that liberty means nothing but the unrestrained license of the mol)s 
to do as they please, then republican government is a failure. Lib- 
erty of the citizen means the right to exercise such rights as are 
prescribed within the limits of the law so that he does not in the ex- 
ercise of these rights infringe the rights of other citizens. But the 
definition is not well made by our friends on the opposite side of this 
Chamber. Their idea of liberty is license; it is not liberty but it 
is license. License to do what? License to violate law, to tr.im])le 
constitutions under foot, to take life, to take i)r()p( riy, to use the 
bludgeon and the gun or anything else for.tiie jiurpot-e of giving 
themselves power. What statesman ever heard of that as a defini- 
tion of liberty ? What man in a civilized age has ever heard of lib- 
erty being the unrestrained liccns(j of the people to do as they please 
without any restraint of law or of authority f No man. no not one 
until we found the democratic i>arty, would advocate this ])roi)osi- 
tion and indorse and encourage tliis kind of license in a free country. 

Mr. Pnisiilent, I have perhapssaid more on this question of Louisiana 
than might have been well for mo to saycm account of my strengtli, 
but what I have said about it I have said because I lionestly believed 
it. Wiiat I have said in reference to it comes from an honest convic- 



44 

tiou in my inind and in my heart of what has been done to sujipress 
violence and wrong. Bnt I have a few remarks inconohision to sub- 
mit now to my friends on the other side, in answer to what they have 
said not by Avay of argument but by way of accusation. You say to 
lis — I had it repeated to me this morning in private conversation — 
" Witlidraw your troops from Louisiana and you will have peace." 
Ah, I heard it said on this floor once " Withdraw your troops from 
Louisiana and your State government will not last a minute." I 
heard that said from the opposite side of the Chamber, and now you 
say " Withdraw your troops from Louisiana and you will have peace." 

Mr. President, I dislike to refer to things that are past and gone ; 
I dislike to have my mind called back to things of the past; but I 
well remember the voice in this Chamber once that rang out and was 
lieard throughout this land, " Withdraw your troops from Fort 
Sumter if you want peace." I heard that said. Now it is "With- 
draw your troops from Louisiana if you want peace." Yes, I say, 
withdraw your troops from Louisiana if you want a revolution, and 
that is what is meant. But, sir, we are told, and doubtless it is 
believed by the Senators who tell us so, who denounce the republican 
party that it is tyrannical, oppressive, and outrageous. They liave 
argued themselves into the idea that they are patriots, pure and 
uudefiled. Tliey have argued themselves into the idea that the dem- 
ocratic party never did any wrong. They have been out of power so 
long that they have convinced themselves that if they only had con- 
trol of this country for a short time, what a glorious country they 
Avould make it. They had control for nearly forty long years, and 
while they were the agents of this country — I appeal to "history to 
bear me out — they made the Government a baidcrupt, with rebel- 
lion and treason in the land, and were then sympathizing with it 
wherever it existed. That is the condition in which they left the 
country when they had it in their possession and within their con- 
trol. But they say the republican party is a tyrant ; that it is 
oppressive. As I have said, I wish to make a few suggestions to 
my friends in answer to this accusation — oppressive to whom? They 
say to the South, that the republican party has tyrannized over the 
South. Let me ask you how has it tyrannized over the South ? 
Without s])eaking of our troubles and trials through which wo 
passed, I will say tliis: at the end of a rebellion that scourged this 
land, thai, drenclied it with blood, that devastated a i)ort ion of it, 
left us in debt and almost bankrupt, what did t he rei)ublican i)arty do ? 
Instead of leaving these ourfriencls and citizens to-day in a territorial 
condition where we might exercisejurisdictionoverthem for the next 
coining twenty years, where we might have deprived them of the 
rights of members on this lloor, what did wo do? We reorganized 
them into States, admitted them back into the Uui(m, and through 
the clemency of the republican party we admitted representatives on 
this floor who had thuudered against tlie gates of liberty for four 
bloody years. Is that the tyranny and ojjpression of whicli you com- 
plain at the hands of the republican i)arty ? Is that a part of our 
(Oppression against you southern people ? 

Let us go a little further. When the iUMued democracy, for that is 
what they w(>re, laid down their arms in the Southern States, after dis- 
])uting the right of freedom and liberty in this land for four years, how 
<li(l the re]iui)lican party show itself in its acts of tyranny and oppres- 
sion toward you? You apjiealed to them for clemency. Did you get 
it? Not a man was punished for his treason. Not a man ever knocked 
at the doors of a republican Congress for a pardon who did not get it. 



45 

Not II man e\er petitioned tlie generosity of the republican party to 
bo excused for his crimes who was not excused. AVas that oppression 
upon the part of republicans in this landf Is that a part of the op- 
pression of which you accuse ns? 

Let us look a little furtlier. We find to-day twenty-seven demo- 
craric Keprescntatives in the other branch of Congress who took arms 
in their hands and tried to destroy this Government holding com- 
missions there by the clemency of the republican party. We find in 
this Chamber by the clemency of the republican party tliree Senators 
who held such commissions. Is that tyranny ; is that oppression ; is 
that the outrage of this republican party on you southern ])eople ? 
Sir, when Jetf Davis, the head of the great rebellion, who roams the 
laud free as air, North, South, East, and West, makes democratic 
speeches wherever invited, and the vice-president of the southern 
rebellion holds his seat in the other House of Congress, are we to be 
told that we are tyrants, and oyipressing the southern ])eople ? These 
things may sound'a little harsh, but it is time to tell the truth in this 
country. The time has come to talk facts. The time has come when 
cowards should hide, and honest men should come to the front and 
tell you plain, honest truths. You of the South talk to us about op- 
pressing you. You drenched your land in blood, caused weeping 
throughout this vast donuiin, covered the land in weeds of mourning 
both North and South, widowed thousands and orphaned nniny, made 
the pension-roll as long as an army-list, made the debt thiit grinds 
the poor of this land— for all these things you have been pardoned, 
and yet you talk to us aliout oppression. So much for the opytression 
of tlie republican party of your ])atriotic souls and selves. Next comes 
the President of the United States. He is a tyrant, too. He is an 
oppressor still, in conjunction with the republican party. Oppressor 
of what ? Who has ho oppressed of your Southern people, and when, 
and where ? When your Ku-Klux, banded together for murder and 
plunder in the Southern States, were convicted by their own confes- 
sion, your ov.'u representatives jdeaded to the President and said, 
"Give them pardon, aiul it will reconcile many of the soutlieru peo- 
ple." The President ])ar(lon(!(l them; pardoned them of their mur- 
der, of their plunder, of their piracy on land; and for this I suppose 
he is a tyrant. 

More than that, sir, this tyrant in the White House has done nmro 
for you southern people than you ought to have asked him to do. He 
has had conlidence in you until you betrayed that confidence. He haa 
uot only pard<)n(Ml Ihi- ottenscs of the South, pardoned the criminals 
of the democratic ])arty, but lie has placed in higii oftieial position in 
this Union some of the leading men who fought in the rebellion. lie 
has put in his Cabinet one of your men ; ho has made goveru<n-s of 
Territories of some of your leading men who fought in the rebellion ; 
he has sent on foreign missions aI)road some of your nu'ii who warred 
against this country ; he has placed others in the Departiueuts ; and 
has tried to reconcile you in everyway on earth, by a]>pealing to your 
people, by recognizing them au<i forgiving them for tlieir olTenses, 
and for these acts of generosity, for these acts of kindness, he is ar- 
raigned to-day as a Ca>sar, as a tyrant, as an o])pressor. 

Such kindness in return as the President has received from these 
l)eople will mark itself in the history of generosity. O, but say 
they, (Jrant wants to o])pr{>ss the White Leagues in Louisiana; there- 
fore he is an o])))ress(>r. Yes, Mr. President, Grant does desire tliat 
these men should quit their every-day ehivalric sports of gunning 
upon negroes and n^publicans. He asks kindly that yon stop it. He 



4(> 

says to you, "That is all I want you to ilo;" ami you say that you 
are desirous that they shall quit, it. You have but to say it and they 
■will quit it. It is because you have never said it that they have not 
quit it. It is iu the power of the democratic party to-day but to 
speak ill tones of majesty, of honor, and justice in favor of liuman 
life, aud your Kn-Klux and murderers will stop. But you do not do 
it; aud that is tlie reason they do not stop. In States where it has 
been done they have stopped. But it will not do to oppress those 
people; it will not do to make them submit and subject them to the 
law ; it will not do to stop these gentlemen iu their daily sports and 
in their lively recreations. They are White Leagues ; they are banded 
together as gentlemen; they are of southern blood ; they are of old 
southern stock; they are the chivalry of days gone by; they aro 
knights of the bloody shield; and tlie shield must not be taken 
from them. Sirs, their shield will bo taken from them; this coun- 
try Avill be ai'onsed to its danger; this country will be aroused to do 
justice to its citizens; and when it does, the perpetrators of crime 
may tear and tremble. Tyranny and oppression ! A people who 
without one word of opposition allows men who have been the ene- 
mies of a government to come into these legislative Halls and make 
laws for tluit government to be told that they are oppressors is a 
monstrosity iu declanuition aiul assertion. Whoever heard of such a 
thing befoi'e? Whoever believed that such men could make such 
charges ? Yet we are tyrants! 

[IVIr. LOGAN here gave way to allow a message to be received from 
the House of Kepreseutatives. which announced the passage of a bill 
removing the political disabilities of John Withers, Joseph F. Miuter, 
and William Kearney.] 

Mr. LOGAN. Mr. President, the reading of the title of that biU 
from the House only reminds mo of more acts of tyranny and oppres- 
sion of the republican party, and there is continuation of the same 
great oft'enses constantly going on in this Chamber. But some may 
say "It is strange to see Logan defending the President of the United 
States." It is not strange to me. I can disagree with the President 
when I think he is wrong; and I do not blame him for disagreeing 
with mo ; but when these attacks are made, coming from where they 
do, I am ready to stand from the rising sun in the morning to the set- 
ting sun a.t evening to defend every act of his in connection with 
this matter before us. 

I may have disagreed with President Grant in many things ; but I 
was calling attention to the men who have been accusing him liere, 
on this floor, on the stump, and in the other House ; the kind of men 
who do it, the manner of its doing, the sharpness of the shafts that 
are sent at him, the poisonous barbs that they bear with them, and 
from these men who, at his hands, have received more clemency than 
any men over received at the hands of any President or any man who 
governed acountry. Why, sir, I will ai)i)eal to the soldiers of the rebel 
army to testify in behalf of what I say in defense of President (iraut — 
the honorable men who fought against the country, if there was 
honor in doing it. What will be their testimony? It will be that ho 
captured your armed democracy of the South, he treated them kindly, 
turned them loose, with their horses, with their wagons, with their 
provisions ; treated them as men, and not as pirates. Grant built no 
prisou-i)ens lor the southern soldiers ; Grant provided no starvation 
for soutliern men; Grant provided no "dead-lines" upon which to 
shoot southern soldiers if they crossed them ; Grant provided no out- 
rageous punishment agaiust these people that now call him a tyrant. 



47 

<^euerous to a fault in all bis actions toward the men wlio were fight- 
ing his country and destroying the Constitution, that man to-day is 
•denounced as a very Caesar! 

Sherman has not been denounced, but the only reason is that he 
was not one of the actors in tliis transaction ; but I want now to say 
to my friends on the other side, especially to my friend from Dela- 
ware, who repeated his bitter denunciation against Sheridan yester- 
day—and I say this in all kindness, because I am speaking what 
future history will bear me out in — when Sheridan and Grant and 
Sherman, and others like them, are forgotten in this country, you 
will have no country. When the democratic party is rotten for cen- 
turies in its grave, the life, the course, the conduct of these men will 
live as bright as the noonday suu in the heart of every patriot of a 
republic like the American Union. Sirs, you may talk about tyranny, 
you may talk about oppression, you may denounce these men; their 
glory may fade into the darkness of night ; liut that darkness will 
be a'brilliant light compared with the darkness of the democratic 
party. Their pathway is illuminated by glory; yours by dark deeds 
against the Government. That is a difterence which the country will 
bear witness to in future history when speaking of this country and 
the actors on its stage. 

Now, Mr. President, I have a word to say about our duty. A great 
many people are asking, what shall we do ? Plain and simple in my 
udg'ment is the proposition. I say to republicans, do not be scared. 
No man is ever hurt by doing an honest act and performing a patri- 
•otic duty. If we are to have a war of words outside or inside, let us 
have them in truth and soberness, but in earnest. VsHiat then is our 
duty ? I did not believe that in 1872 there were official data upon 
which we could decide who was elected governor in Louisiana. But 
this is not the point of my argument. It is that the President has 
recognized Kellogg as governor of that State, and he has acted for 
two years. The "Legislature of the State has recognized him; the 
supreme court of the State has recognized him ; one branch of Con- 
gress has recognized him. The duty is plain, and that is for this, the 
other branch of Congress, to do it, and that settles the question. 
Then, when it does it, your duty is plain and simple, and as the Pres- 
ident has told you, he will perform his without fear, favor, or ali'ec- 
tion. Recognize the governnu^nt that revolution has been against 
and intended to overthrow, and leave the President to his duty, and 
he will do it. That is what to do. 

Sir, we have been told that this old craft is rnpidly going to pieces; 
that the angry waves of dissension in the land arc lashing against 
her sides. We are told that she is sinking, sinking, sinking to the 
bottom of the political ocean. Is that true? Is it true that this gal- 
lant old party, that this gallant old ship that has sailed through 
troubled seasbeforo is going to be stranded now upon the rock of 
fury that has been set up by a clamor in this Chamber and a few 
newspapers in the country ? Is it true that the party that saved this 
country in all its great crises, in all its great trials, is sinking to-day 
on account of its fear and trembling before an inferior enemy? 1 
liope not. I remember, sir, once I w;is told that the old republican 
ship was gone; but when I steadied myself on the shores bounding 
the political ocean of strife and commotion, I looked afar otV ami there 
I could see a vessel bounding the boisterous billows with white sail 
unfurled, marked on her sides " Freighted with the hopes of man- 
kind," wliile the great Mariner above, as her helmsman, steered her, 
navigated her to a haven of rest, of peace, and of safety. You hav« 



48 

but to look again \ipon that broad ocean of political commotion to- 
day, and the timo will soon come when the same old craft, provided 
with the same cargo, will be seen, Hying the same flag, passing- 
through these tempestuous waves, anchoring herself at the shores of 
honesty and justice, and there she will lie undisturbed by strife and 
tunuilt, again in x^eace and safety. [Manifestations of applause in 
the galleries.] 



